{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_51881/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_51881","id":"gutenberg_51881","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51881","summary":null,"tags":["America -- Antiquities","Atlantis (Legendary place)","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Ethnology -- America","Indians of North America -- Antiquities"],"text":"E T H N O G R A P H I C   S T U D I E S\n\n\n\n\n                       _Printed by R. & R. Clark_\n                                  FOR\n                        DAVID DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n                   T H E   L O S T   A T L A N T I S\n\n                               AND  OTHER\n\n                         ETHNOGRAPHIC  STUDIES\n\n                                   BY\n                 SIR  DANIEL  WILSON,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.E.\n                 PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO\n             AUTHOR OF \u2018THE PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND\u2019\n        \u2018PREHISTORIC MAN: THE ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION,\u2019 ETC. ETC.\n\n                               NEW  YORK\n                          MACMILLAN  AND  CO.\n                                  1892\n\n                         _All rights reserved_\n\n\n\n\n                             P R E F A C E\n\n\u201cTHE Preface is the most troublesome part of a book,\u201d I have often heard\nmy dear Father say; and now it falls to my unaccustomed pen to write a\npreface for him.\n\nI cannot undertake to define the aim of this book; I can only tell how\nthe last work on it was done. In my Father\u2019s note-book I find it\ndescribed as \u201cA few carefully studied monographs, linked together by a\nslender thread of ethnographic relationship.\u201d\n\nReturning in June last from a brief visit to Montreal, with the first\nsigns of illness beginning to show, he found a bundle of proofs waiting\nfor him, and with the characteristic promptness which never let any duty\nwait, he set to work at once to correct them. \u201cIt is my last book,\u201d he\nsaid, conscious that his busy brain had nearly fulfilled all its tasks;\nand so through days of rapidly increasing weakness and pain he lay on\nthe sofa correcting proofs till the pen dropped from the hand no longer\nable to hold it. His mind turned to the book in his _wandering_ thoughts\nfrom illness, and on one of these occasions he murmured: \u201cSybil will\nwrite the Preface\u201d; and so I try to fulfil his wish. \u201cAsk Mr. Douglas to\ncorrect the proofs himself, and to be sure to make an index,\u201d was one of\nhis last requests, thus providing for the finishing of the work which he\ncould not himself finish. He has passed now from this world whose\nprehistoric story he so lovingly tried to decipher, and where he was\never finding traces of the hand of God, into that other world, \u201cwhere\ntoil shall cease and rest begin\u201d; but where I doubt not he still goes on\nlearning more and more, no longer seeing through a glass darkly but in\nperfect light.\n\nThe silent lips seem to speak once more in this volume\u2014his last words\nto the public; and I commit it very tenderly to those who are interested\nin his favourite study of Ethnology.\n\n                                                          SYBIL WILSON.\n BENCOSIE, TORONTO,\n   _August 1892_.\n\n\n\n\n                            C O N T E N T S\n\n                                                                PAGE\n      1.    THE LOST ATLANTIS                                      1\n\n      2.    THE VINLAND OF THE NORTHMEN                           37\n\n      3.    TRADE AND COMMERCE IN THE STONE AGE                   81\n\n      4.    PRE-ARYAN AMERICAN MAN                               130\n\n      5.    THE \u00c6STHETIC FACULTY IN ABORIGINAL RACES             185\n\n      6.    THE HURON-IROQUOIS; A TYPICAL RACE                   246\n\n      7.    HYBRIDITY AND HEREDITY                               307\n\n      8.    RELATIVE RACIAL BRAIN-WEIGHT AND SIZE                339\n\n\n      INDEX                                                      403\n\n\n\n\n                           THE LOST ATLANTIS\n                                    I\n                               EARLY IDEAS\n\n\nTHE legend of Atlantis, an island-continent lying in the Atlantic Ocean\nover against the Pillars of Hercules, which, after being long the seat\nof a powerful empire, was engulfed in the sea, has been made the basis\nof many extravagant speculations; and anew awakens keenest interest with\nthe revolving centuries. The 12th of October 1892 has been proclaimed a\nWorld\u2019s holiday, to celebrate its accomplished cycle of four centuries\nsince Columbus set foot on the shores of the West. The voyage has been\ncharacterised as the most memorable in the annals of our race; and the\ncentury thus completed is richer than all before it in the\ntransformations that the birth of time has disclosed since the wedding\nof the New World to the Old. The story of the Lost Atlantis is recorded\nin the _Tim\u00e6us_ and, with many fanciful amplifications, in the _Critias_\nof Plato. According to the dialogues, as reproduced there, Critias\nrepeats to Socrates a story told him by his grandfather, then an old man\nof ninety, when he himself was not more than ten years of age. According\nto this narrative, Solon visited the city of Sais, at the head of the\nEgyptian delta, and there learned from the priests of the ancient empire\nof Atlantis, and of its overthrow by a convulsion of nature. \u201cNo one,\u201d\nsays Professor Jowett, in his critical edition of _The Dialogues of\nPlato_, \u201cknew better than Plato how to invent \u2018a noble lie\u2019\u201d; and he,\nunhesitatingly, pronounces the whole narrative a fabrication. \u201cThe\nworld, like a child, has readily, and for the most part, unhesitatingly\naccepted the tale of the Island of Atlantis.\u201d To the critical editor,\nthis reception furnishes only an illustration of popular credulity,\nshowing how the chance word of a poet or philosopher may give rise to\nendless historical or religious speculation. In the _Critias_, the\nlegendary tale is unquestionably expanded into details of no possible\nhistorical significance or genuine antiquity. But it is not without\nreason, that men like Humboldt have recognised in the original legend\nthe possible vestige of a widely-spread tradition of earliest times. In\nthis respect, at any rate, I purpose here to review it.\n\nIt is to be noted that even in the time of Socrates, and indeed of the\nelder Critias, this Atlantis was referred to as the vague and\ninconsistent tradition of a remote past; though not more inconsistent\nthan much else which the cultured Greeks were accustomed to receive. Mr.\nHyde Clarke, in an \u201cExamination of the Legend,\u201d printed in the\n_Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_, arrives at the\nconclusion that Atlantis was the name of the king rather than of the\ndominion. But king and kingdom have ever been liable to be referred to\nunder a common designation. According to the account in the _Tim\u00e6us_,\nAtlantis was a continent lying over against the Pillars of Hercules,\ngreater in extent than Libya and Asia combined; the highway to other\nislands and to a great ocean, of which the Mediterranean Sea was a mere\nharbour. But in the vagueness of all geographical knowledge in the days\nof Socrates and of Plato, this Atlantic domain is confused with some\nIberian or western African power, which is stated to have been arrayed\nagainst Egypt, Hellas, and all the countries bordering on the\nMediterranean Sea. The knowledge even of the western Mediterranean was\nthen very imperfect; and, to the ancient Greek, the West was a region of\nvague mystery which sufficed for the localisation of all his fondest\nimaginings. There, on the far horizon, Homer pictured the Elysian plain,\nwhere, under a serene sky, the favourites of Zeus enjoyed eternal\nfelicity; Hesiod assigned the abode of departed heroes to the Happy\nIsles beyond the western waters that engirdled Europe; and Seneca\nforetold that that mysterious ocean would yet disclose an unknown world\nwhich it then kept concealed. To the ancients, Elysium ever lay beyond\nthe setting sun; and the Hesperia of the Greeks, as their geographical\nknowledge increased, continued to recede before them into the unexplored\nwest.\n\nIn the youth of all nations, the poet and historian are one; and,\naccording to the tale of the elder Critias, the legend of Atlantis was\nderived from a poetic chronicle of Solon, whom he pronounced to have\nbeen one of the best of poets, as well as the wisest of men. The\nelements of oral tradition are aptly set forth in the dialogue which\nPlato puts into the mouth of Tim\u00e6us of Locris, a Pythagorean\nphilosopher. Solon is affirmed to have told the tale to his personal\nfriend, Dropidas, the great-grandfather of Critias, who repeated it to\nhis son; and he, eighty years thereafter, in extreme old age, told it to\nhis grandson, a boy of ten, whose narrative, reproduced in mature years,\nwe are supposed to read in the dialogue of the _Tim\u00e6us_. Even those are\nbut the later links in the traditionary catena. Solon himself visited\nSais, a city of the Egyptian delta, under the protection of the goddess,\nNeith or Athene. There, when in converse with the Egyptian priests, he\nlearned, for the first time, rightly to appreciate how ignorant of\nantiquity he and his countrymen were. \u201cO Solon, Solon,\u201d said an aged\npriest to him, \u201cyou Hellenes are ever young, and there is no old man who\nis a Hellene; there is no opinion or tradition of knowledge among you\nwhich is white with age.\u201d Solon had told them the mythical tales of\nPhoroneus and Niobe, and of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and had attempted to\nreckon the interval by generations since the great deluge. But the\npriest of Sais replied to this that such Hellenic annals were children\u2019s\nstories. Their memory went back but a little way, and recalled only the\nlatest of the great convulsions of nature, by which revolutions in past\nages had been wrought: \u201cThe memory of them is lost, because there was no\nwritten voice among you.\u201d And so the venerable priest undertook to tell\nhim of the social life and condition of the primitive Athenians 9000\nyears before. It is among the events of this older era that the\noverthrow of Atlantis is told: a story already \u201cwhite with age\u201d in the\ntime of Socrates, 3400 years ago. The warriors of Athens, in that elder\ntime, were a distinct caste; and when the vast power of Atlantis was\nmarshalled against the Mediterranean nations, Athens bravely repelled\nthe invader, and gave liberty to the nations whose safety had been\nimperilled; but in the convulsion that followed, in which the\nisland-continent was engulfed in the ocean, the warrior race of Athens\nalso perished.\n\nThe story, as it thus reaches us, is one of the vaguest of popular\nlegends, and has been transmitted to modern times in the most obscure of\nall the writings of Plato. Nevertheless, there is nothing improbable in\nthe idea that it rests on some historic basis, in which the tradition of\nthe fall of an Iberian, or other aggressive power in the western\nMediterranean, is mingled with other and equally vague traditions of\nintercourse with a vast continent lying beyond the Pillars of Hercules.\nMr. Hyde Clarke, in his _Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, draws\nattention to the ancient system of geography, alluded to by various\nearly writers, and notably mentioned by Crates of Pergamos, B.C. 160,\nwhich treated of the Four Worlds. This he connects with the statement by\nMr. George Smith, derived from the cuneiform interpretations, that Agu,\nan ancient king of Babylonia, called himself \u201cKing of the Four Races.\u201d\nHe also assigns to it a relation with others, including its Inca\nequivalent of _Tavintinsuzu_, the Empire of the Four Quarters of the\nWorld. But the extravagance of regal titles has been the same in widely\ndiverse ages; so that much caution is necessary before they can be made\na safe basis for comprehensive generalisations. Four kings made war\nagainst five in the vale of Siddim; and when Lot was despoiled and taken\ncaptive by Chederlaomer, King of Elam, Tidal, King of Nations, and other\nregal allies, Abraham, with no further aid than that of his trained\nservants, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen in all, smote\ntheir combined hosts, and recovered the captives and the spoil. Here, at\nleast, it is obvious that \u201cthe King of Nations\u201d was somewhat on a par\nwith one of the six vassal kings who rowed King Edgar on the River Dee.\nCertainly, within any early period of authentic history, the conceptions\nof the known world were reduced within narrow bounds; and it would be a\nvery comprehensive deduction from such slight premises as the legend\nsupplies, to refer it to an age of accurate geographical knowledge in\nwhich the western hemisphere was known as one of four worlds, or\ncontinents. When the Scottish poet, Dunbar, wrote of America, twenty\nyears after the voyage of Columbus, he only knew of it as \u201cthe new-found\nisle.\u201d\n\nThe opinion, universally favoured in the infancy of physical science, of\nthe recurrence of convulsions of nature, whereby nations were\nrevolutionised, and vast empires destroyed by fire, or engulfed in the\nocean, revived with the theories of cataclysmic phenomena in the earlier\nspeculations of modern geology; and has even now its advocates among\nwriters who have given little heed to the concurrent opinion of later\nscientific authorities. Among the most zealous advocates of the idea of\na submerged Atlantic continent, the seat of a civilisation older than\nthat of Europe, or of the old East, was the late Abb\u00e9 Brasseur de\nBourbourg. As an indefatigable and enthusiastic investigator, he\noccupies a place in the history of American arch\u00e6ology somewhat akin to\nthat of his fellow-countryman, M. Boucher de Perthes, in relation to the\npal\u00e6ontological disclosures of Europe. He had the undoubted merit of\nfirst drawing the attention of the learned world to the native\ntranscripts of Maya records, the full value of which is only now being\nadequately recognised. His _Histoire des Nations Civilis\u00e9es_ aims at\ndemonstrating from their religious myths and historical traditions the\nexistence of a self-originated civilisation. In his subsequent _Quatre\nLettres sur le Mexique_, the Abb\u00e9 adopted, in the most literal form, the\nvenerable legend of Atlantis, giving free rein to his imagination in\nsome very fanciful speculations. He calls into being, \u201cfrom the vasty\ndeep,\u201d a submerged continent, or, rather, extension of the present\nAmerica, stretching eastward, and including, as he deems probable, the\nCanary Islands, and other insular survivals of the imaginary Atlantis.\nSuch speculations of unregulated zeal are unworthy of serious\nconsideration. But it is not to be wondered at that the vague legend, so\ntemptingly set forth in the _Tim\u00e6us_, should have kindled the\nimaginations of a class of theorists, who, like the enthusiastic Abb\u00e9,\nare restrained by no doubts suggested by scientific indications. So far\nfrom geology lending the slightest confirmation to the idea of an\nengulfed Atlantis, Professor Wyville Thomson has shown, in his _Depths\nof the Sea_, that while oscillations of the land have considerably\nmodified the boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean, the geological age of its\nbasin dates as far back, at least, as the later Secondary period. The\nstudy of its animal life, as revealed in dredging, strongly confirms\nthis, disclosing an unbroken continuity of life on the Atlantic sea-bed\nfrom the Cretaceous period to the present time; and, as Sir Charles\nLyell has pointed out, in his _Principles of Geology_, the entire\nevidence is adverse to the idea that the Canaries, the Madeiras, and the\nAzores, are surviving fragments of a vast submerged island, or\ncontinuous area of the adjacent continent. There are, indeed, undoubted\nindications of volcanic action; but they furnish evidence of local\nupheaval, not of the submergence of extensive continental areas.\n\nBut it is an easy, as well as a pleasant pastime, to evolve either a\ncamel or a continent out of the depths of one\u2019s own inner consciousness.\nTo such fanciful speculators, the lost Atlantis will ever offer a\ntempting basis on which to found their unsubstantial creations. Mr. H.\nH. Bancroft, when alluding to the subject in his _Native Races of the\nPacific States_, refers to forty-two different works for notices and\nspeculations concerning Atlantis. The latest advocacy of the idea of an\nactual island-continent of the mid-Atlantic, literally engulfed in the\nocean, within a period authentically embraced by historical tradition,\nis to be found in its most popular form in Mr. Ignatius Donnelly\u2019s\n_Atlantis, the Antediluvian World_. By him, as by Abb\u00e9 Brasseur, the\nconcurrent opinions of the highest authorities in science, that the main\nfeatures of the Atlantic basin have undergone no change within any\nrecent geological period, are wholly ignored. To those, therefore, who\nattach any value to scientific evidence, such speculations present no\nserious claims on their study. There is, indeed, an idea favoured by\ncertain students of science, who carry the spirit of nationality into\nregions ordinarily regarded as lying outside of any sectional pride,\nthat, geologically speaking, America is the older continent. It may at\nleast be accepted as beyond dispute, that that continent and the great\nAtlantic basin intervening between it and Europe are alike of a\ngeological antiquity which places the age of either entirely apart from\nall speculations affecting human history. But such fancies are wholly\nsuperfluous. The idea of intercourse between the Old and the New World\nprior to the fifteenth century, passed from the region of speculation to\nthe domain of historical fact, when the publication of the _Antiquitates\nAmerican\u00e6_ and the _Gr\u00f6nland\u2019s Historiske Mindesm\u00e6rker_, by the\nantiquaries of Copenhagen, adduced contemporary authorities, and\nindisputably genuine runic inscriptions, in proof of the visits of the\nNorthmen to Greenland and the mainland of North America, before the\nclose of the tenth century.\n\nThe idea of pre-Columbian intercourse between Europe and America, is\nthus no novelty. What we have anew to consider is: whether, in its wider\naspect, it is more consistent with probability than the revived notion\nof a continent engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean? The earliest students of\nAmerican antiquities turned to Ph\u0153nicia, Egypt, or other old-world\ncentres of early civilisation, for the source of Mexican, Peruvian, and\nCentral American art or letters; and, indeed, so long as the unity of\nthe human race remained unquestioned, some theory of a common source for\nthe races of the Old and the New World was inevitable. The idea,\ntherefore, that the new world which Columbus revealed, was none other\nthan the long-lost Atlantis, is one that has probably suggested itself\nindependently to many minds. References to America have, in like manner,\nbeen sought for in obscure allusions of Herodotus, Seneca, Pliny, and\nother classical writers, to islands or continents in the ocean which\nextended beyond the western verge of the world as known to them. That\nsuch allusions should be vague, was inevitable. If they had any\nfoundation in a knowledge by elder generations of this western\nhemisphere, the tradition had come down to them by the oral\ntransmissions of centuries; while their knowledge of their own eastern\nhemisphere was limited and very imperfect. \u201cThe Cassiterides, from which\ntin is brought\u201d\u2014assumed to be the British Isles,\u2014were known to\nHerodotus only as uncertainly located islands of the Atlantic of which\nhe had no direct information. When Assuryuchurabal, the founder of the\npalace at Nimrud, conquered the people who lived on the banks of the\nOrontes from the confines of Hamath to the sea, the spoils obtained from\nthem included one hundred talents of _anna_, or tin; and the same prized\nmetal is repeatedly named in cuneiform inscriptions. The people trading\nin tin, supposed to be identical with the Shirutana, were the merchants\nof the world before Tyre assumed her place as chief among the merchant\nprinces of the sea. Yet already, in the time of Joshua, she was known as\n\u201cthe strong city, Tyre.\u201d \u201cGreat Zidon\u201d also is so named, along with her,\nwhen Joshua defines the bounds of the tribe of Asher, extending to the\nsea coast; and is celebrated by Homer for its works of art. The\nSeleucia, or Cilicia, of the Greeks was an attempted restoration of the\nancient seaport of the Shirutana, which may have been an emporium of\nKhita merchandise; as it was, undoubtedly, an important place of\nshipment for the Ph\u0153nicians in their overland trade from the valley of\nthe Euphrates. One favoured etymology of Britain, as the name of the\nislands whence tin was brought, is _barat-anna_, assumed to have been\napplied to them by that ancient race of merchant princes: the\nCassiterides being the later Aryan equivalent, Gr. \u03ba\u03b1\u03c3\u03c3\u03af\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03db, Sansk.\n_kastira_.\n\nIn primitive centuries, when ancient maritime races thus held supremacy\nin the Mediterranean Sea, voyages were undoubtedly made far into the\nAtlantic Ocean. The Ph\u0153nicians, who of all the nations settled on its\nshores lay among the remotest from the outlying ocean, habitually traded\nwith settlements on the Atlantic. They colonised the western shores of\nthe Mediterranean at a remote period; occupied numerous favourable\ntrading-posts on the bays and headlands of the Euxine, as well as of\nSicily and others of the larger islands; and passing beyond the straits,\neffected settlements along the coasts of Europe and Africa. According to\nStrabo (i. 48), they had factories beyond the Pillars of Hercules in the\nperiod immediately succeeding the Trojan war: an era which yearly\nbecomes for us less mythical, and to which may be assigned the great\ndevelopment of the commercial prosperity of Tyre. The Ph\u0153nicians were\nthen expanding their trading enterprise, and extending explorations so\nas to command the remotest available sources of wealth. The trade of\nTarshish was for Ph\u0153nicia what that of the East has been to England in\nmodern centuries. The Tartessus, on which the Arabs of Spain\nsubsequently conferred the name of the Guadalquivir, afforded ready\naccess to a rich mining district; and also formed the centre of valuable\nfisheries of tunny and mur\u00e6na. By means of its navigable waters, along\nwith those of the Guadina, Ph\u0153nician traders were able to penetrate far\ninland; and the colonies established at their mouths furnished fresh\nstarting points for adventurous exploration along the Atlantic seaboard.\nThey derived much at least of the tin, which was an important object of\ntraffic, from the mines of north-west Spain, and from Cornwall; though,\ndoubtless, both the tin of the Cassiterides and amber from the Baltic\nwere also transported by overland routes to the Adriatic and the mouth\nof the Rhone. It was a Ph\u0153nician expedition which, in the reign of\nPharaoh Necho, B.C. 611-605, after the decline of that great maritime\npower, accomplished the feat of circumnavigating Africa by way of the\nRed Sea. Hanno, a Carthaginian, not only guided the Punic fleet round\nthe parts of Libya which border on the Atlantic, but has been credited\nwith reaching the Indian Ocean by the same route as that which Vasco de\nGama successfully followed in 1497. The object of Hanno\u2019s expedition, as\nstated in the _Periplus_, was to found Liby-Ph\u0153nician cities beyond the\nPillars of Hercules. How far south his voyage actually extended along\nthe African coast is matter of conjecture, or of disputed\ninterpretation; for the original work is lost. It is sufficient for our\npurpose to know that he did pursue the same route which led in a later\ncentury to the discovery of Brazil. Aristotle applies the name of\n\u201cAntilla\u201d to a Carthaginian discovery; and Diodorus Siculus assigns to\nthe Carthaginians the knowledge of an island in the ocean, the secret of\nwhich they reserved to themselves, as a refuge to which they could\nwithdraw, should fate ever compel them to desert their African homes. It\nis far from improbable that we may identify this obscure island with one\nof the Azores, which lie 800 miles from the coast of Portugal. Neither\nGreek nor Roman writers make other reference to them; but the discovery\nof numerous Carthaginian coins at Corvo, the extreme north-westerly\nisland of the group, leaves little room to doubt that they were visited\nby Punic voyagers. There is therefore nothing extravagant in the\nassumption that we have here the \u201cAntilla\u201d mentioned by Aristotle. While\nthe Carthaginian oligarchy ruled, naval adventure was still encouraged;\nbut the maritime era of the Mediterranean belongs to more ancient\ncenturies. The Greeks were inferior in enterprise to the Ph\u0153nicians;\nwhile the Romans were essentially unmaritime; and the revival of the old\nadventurous spirit with the rise of the Venetian and Genoese republics\nwas due to the infusion of fresh blood from the great northern home of\nthe sea-kings of the Baltic.\n\nThe history of the ancient world is, for us, to a large extent, the\nhistory of civilisation among the nations around the Mediterranean Sea.\nIts name perpetuates the recognition of it from remote times as the\ngreat inland sea which kept apart and yet united, in intercourse and\nexchange of experience and culture, the diverse branches of the human\nfamily settled on its shores. Of the history of those nations, we only\nknow some later chapters. Disclosures of recent years have startled us\nwith recovered glimpses of the Khita, or Hittites, as a great power\ncentred between the Euphrates and the Orontes, but extending into Asia\nMinor, and about B.C. 1200 reaching westward to the \u00c6gean Sea. All but\ntheir name seemed to have perished; and they were known only as one\namong diverse Canaanitish tribes, believed to have been displaced by the\nHebrew inheritors of Palestine. Yet now, as Professor Curtius has\npointed out, we begin to recognise that \u201cone of the paths by which the\nart and civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria made their way to Greece,\nwas along the great high-road which runs across Asia Minor\u201d; and which\nthe projected railway route through the valley of the Euphrates seeks to\nrevive. For, as compared with Egypt, and the earliest nations of Eastern\nAsia, the Greeks were, indeed, children. It was to the Ph\u0153nicians that\nthe ancients assigned the origin of navigation. Their skill as seamen\nwas the subject of admiration even by the later Greeks, who owned\nthemselves to be their pupils in seamanship, and called the pole-star,\nthe Ph\u0153nician star. Their naval commerce is set forth in glowing\nrhetoric by the prophet Ezekiel. \u201cO Tyrus, thou that art situate at the\nentry of the sea, a merchant of the people of many isles. Thy borders\nare in the midst of the seas. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were\nthy mariners. Thy wise men, O Tyrus, were thy pilots. All the ships of\nthe sea, with their mariners, were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.\u201d\nBut this was spoken at the close of Ph\u0153nician history, in the last days\nof Tyre\u2019s supremacy.\n\nLooking back then into the dim dawn of actual history, with whatever\nfresh light recent discoveries have thrown upon it: this, at least,\nseems to claim recognition from us, that in that remote era the eastern\nMediterranean was a centre of maritime enterprise, such as had no equal\namong the nations of antiquity. Even in the decadence of Ph\u0153nicia, her\nmaritime skill remained unmatched. Egypt and Palestine, under their\ngreatest rulers, recognised her as mistress of the sea; and, as has been\nalready noted, the circumnavigation of Africa\u2014which, when it was\nrepeated in the fifteenth century, was considered an achievement fully\nequalling that of Columbus,\u2014had long before been accomplished by\nPh\u0153nician mariners. Carthage inherited the enterprise of the mother\ncountry, but never equalled her achievements. With the fall of Carthage,\nthe Mediterranean became a mere Roman lake, over which the galleys of\nRome sailed reluctantly with her armed hosts; or coasting along shore,\nthey \u201ccommitted themselves to the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and\nhoisted up the mainsail to the winds\u201d; or again, \u201cstrake sail, and so\nwere driven,\u201d after the blundering fashion described in the voyage of\nSt. Paul. To such a people, the memories of Punic exploration or\nPh\u0153nician enterprise, or the vague legends of an Atlantis beyond the\nengirdling ocean, were equally unavailing. The narrow sea between Gaul\nand Britain was barrier enough to daunt the boldest of them from\nwillingly encountering the dangers of an expedition to what seemed to\nthem literally another world.\n\nSeeing then that the first steps in navigation were taken in an age\nlying beyond all memory, and that the oldest traditions assign its\norigin to the remarkable people who figure alike in early sacred and\nprofane history\u2014in Joshua and Ezekiel, in Dius and Menander of Ephesus,\nin the Homeric poems and in later Greek writings,\u2014as unequalled in\ntheir enterprise on the sea: what impediments existed in B.C. 1400 or\nany earlier century that did not still exist in A.D. 1400, to render\nintercourse between the eastern and the western hemisphere impossible?\nAmerica was no further off from Tarshish in the golden age of Tyre than\nin that of Henry the Navigator. With the aid of literary memorials of\nthe race of sea-rovers who carved out for themselves the Duchy of\nNormandy from the domain of Charlemagne\u2019s heir, and spoiled the Angles\nand Saxons in their island home, we glean sufficient evidence to place\nthe fact beyond all doubt that, after discovering and colonising Iceland\nand Greenland, they made their way southward to Labrador, and so, some\nway along the American coast. How far south their explorations actually\nextended, after being long assigned to the locality of Rhode Island, has\nanew excited interest, and is still a matter of controversy. The\nquestion is reviewed on a subsequent page; but its final settlement does\nnot, in any degree, affect the present question. Certain it is that,\nabout A.D. 1000, when St. Olaf was introducing Christianity by a\nsufficiently high-handed process into the Norse fatherland, Leif, the\nson of Eric, the founder of the first Greenland colony, sailed from\nEricsfiord, or other Greenland port, in quest of southern lands already\nreported to have been seen, and did land on more than one point of the\nNorth American coast. We know what the ships of those Norse rovers were:\nmere galleys, not larger than a good fishing smack, and far inferior to\nit in deck and rigging. For compass they had only the same old\n\u201cPh\u0153nician star,\u201d which, from the birth of navigation, had guided the\nmariners of the ancient world over the pathless deep. The track pursued\nby the Northmen, from Norway to Iceland, and so to Greenland and the\nLabrador coast, was, doubtless, then as now, beset by fogs, so that\n\u201cneither sun nor stars in many days appeared\u201d; and they stood much more\nin need of compass than the sailors of the \u201cSanta Maria,\u201d the \u201cPinta,\u201d\nand the \u201cNina,\u201d the little fleet with which Columbus sailed from the\nAndalusian port of Palos, to his first discovered land of \u201cGuanahani,\u201d\nvariously identified among the islands of the American Archipelago. Yet,\nnotwithstanding all the advantages of a southern latitude, with its\nclearer skies, we have to remember that the \u201cSanta Maria,\u201d the only\ndecked vessel of the expedition, was stranded; and the \u201cPinta\u201d and\n\u201cNina,\u201d on which Columbus and his party had to depend for their homeward\nvoyage, were mere coasting craft, the one with a crew of thirty, and the\nother with twenty-four men, with only _latine_ sails. As to the compass,\nwe perceive how little that availed, on recalling the fact that the\nPortuguese admiral, Pedro Alvares de Cabral, only eight years later,\nwhen following on the route of Vasco de Gama, was carried by the\nequatorial current so far out of his intended course that he found\nhimself in sight of a strange land, in 10\u00b0 S. lat., and so accidentally\ndiscovered Brazil and the new world of the west, not by means of the\nmariner\u2019s compass, but in spite of its guidance. It is thus obvious that\nthe discovery of America would have followed as a result of the voyage\nof Vasco de Gama round the Cape, wholly independent of that of Columbus.\nWhat befell the Portuguese admiral of King Manoel, in A.D. 1500, was an\nexperience that might just as readily have fallen to the lot of the\nPh\u0153nician admiral of Pharaoh Necho in B.C. 600, to the Punic Hanno, or\nother early navigators; and may have repeatedly occurred to\nMediterranean adventurers on the Atlantic in older centuries. On the\nnews of de Cabral\u2019s discovery reaching Portugal, the King despatched the\nFlorentine, Amerigo Vespucci, who explored the coast of South America,\nprepared a map of the new-found world, and thereby wrested from Columbus\nthe honour of giving his name to the continent which he discovered.\n\nWhen we turn from the myths and traditions of the Old World to those of\nthe New, we find there traces that seem not unfairly interpretable into\nthe American counterpart of the legend of Atlantis. The chief seat of\nthe highest native American civilisation, is neither Mexico nor Peru,\nbut Central America. The nations of the Maya stock, who inhabit Yucatan,\nGuatemala, and the neighbouring region, were peculiarly favourably\nsituated; and they appear to have achieved the greatest progress among\nthe communities of Central America. They may not unfitly compare with\nthe ancient dwellers in the valley of the Euphrates, from the grave\nmounds of whose buried cities we are now recovering the history of ages\nthat had passed into oblivion before the Father of History assumed the\npen. Tested indeed by intervening centuries their monuments are not so\nvenerable; but, for America\u2019s chroniclings, they are more prehistoric\nthan the disclosures of Assyrian mounds. The cities of Central America\nwere large and populous, and adorned with edifices, even now magnificent\nin their ruins. Still more, the Mayas were a lettered people, who, like\nthe Egyptians, recorded in elaborate sculptured hieroglyphics the\nformul\u00e6 of history and creed. Like them, too, they wrote and ciphered;\nand appear, indeed, to have employed a comprehensive system of computing\ntime and recording dates, which, it cannot be doubted, will be\nsufficiently mastered to admit of the decipherment of their ancient\nrecords. The Mayas appear, soon after the Spanish Conquest, to have\nadopted the Roman alphabet, and employed it in recording their own\nhistorical traditions and religious myths, as well as in rendering into\nsuch written characters some of the ancient national documents. Those\nversions of native myth and history survive, and attention is now being\ndirected to them. The most recent contribution from this source is _The\nAnnals of the Cakchiquels_, by Dr. D. G. Brinton, a carefully edited and\nannotated translation of a native legal document or _titulo_, in which,\nsoon after the Conquest, the heir of an ancient Maya family set forth\nthe evidence of his claim to the inheritance. Along with this may be\nnoted another work of the same class: _Titre G\u00e9n\u00e9alogique des Seigneurs\nde Totonicapan. Traduit de l\u2019Espagnol par M. de Charencey._ These two\nworks independently illustrate the same great national event. In one, a\nprince of the Cakchiquel nation, tells of the overthrow of the Quich\u00e9\npower by his people; and in the other a Quich\u00e9 seignior, one of the\n\u201cLords of Totonicapan,\u201d describes it from his own point of view. Both\nwere of the same Maya stock, in what is now the State of Guatemala. Each\nnation had a capital adorned with temples and palaces, the splendour of\nwhich excited the wonder of the Spaniards; and both preserved traditions\nof the migration of their ancestors from Tula, a mythical land from\nwhich they came across the water.\n\nSuch traditions of migration meet us on many sides. Captain Cook found\namong the mythological traditions of Tahiti, a vague legend of a ship\nthat came out of the ocean, and seemed to be the dim record of ancestral\nintercourse with the outer world. So also, the Aztecs had the tradition\nof the golden age of Anahuac; and of Quetzalcoatl, their instructor in\nagriculture, metallurgy and the arts of government. He was of fair\ncomplexion, with long dark hair, and flowing beard: all, characteristics\nforeign to their race. When his mission was completed, he set sail for\nthe mysterious shores of Tlapallan; and on the appearance of the ships\nof Cortes, the Spaniards were believed to have returned with the divine\ninstructor of their forefathers, from the source of the rising sun.\n\nWhat tradition hints at, physiology confirms. The races of America\ndiffer less in physical character from those of Asia, than do the races\neither of Africa or Europe. The American Indian is a Mongol; and though\nmarked diversities are traceable throughout the American continent, the\nrange of variation is much less than in the eastern hemisphere. The\nwestern continent appears to have been peopled by repeated migrations\nand by diverse routes; but when we attempt to estimate any probable date\nfor its primeval settlement, evidence wholly fails. Language proves\nelsewhere a safe guide. It has established beyond question some\nlong-forgotten relationship between the Aryans of India and Persia and\nthose of Europe; it connects the Finn and Lapp with their Asiatic\nforefathers; it marks the independent origin of the Basques and their\npriority to the oldest Aryan intruders; it links together widely diverse\nbranches of the great Semitic family. Can language tell us of any such\nAmerican affinities, or of traces of Old World congeners, in relation to\neither civilised Mayas and Peruvians, or to the forest and prairie races\nof the northern continent?\n\nWith the millions of America\u2019s coloured population, of African blood and\nyet speaking Aryan languages, the American comparative philologist can\nscarcely miss the significance of the warning that linguistic and\nethnical classifications by no means necessarily imply the same thing.\nNevertheless, without overlooking this distinction, the ethnical\nsignificance of the evidence which comparative philology supplies cannot\nbe slighted in any question relative to prehistoric relations between\nthe Old World and the New. What then can philology tell us? There is one\nanswer, at the least, which the languages of America give, that fully\naccords with the legend, \u201cwhite with age,\u201d that told of an\nisland-continent in the Atlantic Ocean with which the nations around the\nMediterranean once held intercourse. None of them indicates any trace of\nimmigration within the period of earliest authentic history. Those who\nattach significance to the references in the _Tim\u00e6us_ to political\nrelations common to Atlantis and parts of Libya and Europe; or who, on\nother grounds, look with favour on the idea of early intercourse between\nthe Mediterranean and the western continent, have naturally turned to\nthe Eskuara of the Basques. It is invariably recognised as the surviving\nrepresentative of languages spoken by the Allophyli\u00e6 of Europe before\nthe intrusion of Aryans. The forms of its grammar differ widely from\nthose of any Semitic, or Indo-European tongue, placing it in the same\nclass with Mongol, East African, and American languages. Here,\ntherefore, is a tempting glimpse of possible affinities; and Professor\nWhitney, accordingly, remarks in his _Life and Growth of Languages_,\nthat the Basque \u201cforms a suitable stepping-stone from which to enter the\npeculiar linguistic domain of the New World, since there is no other\ndialect of the Old World which so much resembles in structure the\nAmerican languages.\u201d But this glimpse of possible relationship has\nproved, thus far, illusory. In their morphological character, certain\nAmerican and Asiatic languages have a common agglutinative structure,\nwhich in the former is developed into their characteristic polysynthetic\nattribute. With this, the Eskuarian system of affixes corresponds. But\nbeyond the general structure, there is no such evidence of affinity,\neither in the vocabularies or grammar, as direct affiliation might be\nexpected to show. Elements common to the Anglo-American of the\nnineteenth century and the Sanskrit-speaking race beyond the Indus, in\nthe era of Alexander of Macedon, are suggested at once by the\ngrammatical structure of their languages; whereas there is nothing in\nthe resemblance between the Basque and any of the North American\nlanguages that is not compatible with a \u201cstepping-stone\u201d from Asia to\nAmerica by the islands of the Pacific. The most important of all the\nnative American languages in their bearing on this interesting\ninquiry\u2014those of Central America,\u2014are only now receiving adequate\nattention. Startling evidence may yet reward the diligence of students;\nbut, so far as language furnishes any clue to affinity of race, no\nAmerican language thus far discloses such a relationship, as, for\nexample, enabled Dr. Pritchard to suggest that the western people of\nEurope, to whom the Greeks gave the collective name of K\u03ad\u03bb\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, and whose\nlanguages had been assumed by all previous ethnologists as furnishing\nevidence that they were precursors of the Aryan immigrants, in reality\njustified their classification in the same stock.\n\nBut while thus far, the evidence of language is, at best, vague and\nindefinite in its response to the inquiry for proofs of relationship of\nthe races of America to those of the Old World; physiological\ncomparisons lend no confirmation to the idea of an indigenous native\nrace, with special affinities and adaptation to its peculiar\nenvironment, and with languages all of one class, the ramifications from\na single native stem. So far as physical affinities can be relied upon,\nthe man of America, in all his most characteristic racial diversities,\nis of Asiatic origin. His near approximation to the Asiatic Mongol is so\nmanifest as to have led observers of widely different opinions in all\nother respects, to concur in classing both under the same great\ndivision: the Mongolian of Pickering, the American Mongolid\u00e6 of Latham,\nthe Mongoloid of Huxley. Professor Flower, in an able discussion of the\nvarieties of the human species, addressed to the Anthropological\nInstitute of Great Britain in 1885, unhesitatingly classes the Eskimo as\nthe typical North Asiatic Mongol. In other American races he notes as\ndistinctive features the characteristic form of the nasal bones, the\nwell-developed superciliary ridge, and retreating forehead; but the\nresemblance is so obvious in many other respects, that he finally\nincludes them all among the members of the Mongolian type. If, then, the\nAmerican Mongol came originally from Asia, or sprung from the common\nstock of which the Asiatic Mongol is the typical representative, within\nany such period as even earliest Ph\u0153nician history would embrace, much\nmore definite traces of affinity are to be looked for in his language\nthan mere correspondence in the agglutination characteristic of a very\nwidely diffused class of speech. But we, thus far, look in vain for\ntraces of a common genealogy such as those which, on the one hand,\ncorrelate the Semitic and Aryan families of Asia and Europe with parent\nstocks of times anterior to history, and on the other, with\nramifications of modern centuries. We have, moreover, to deal mainly\nwith the languages of uncivilised races. To the continent north of the\nGulf of Mexico, the grand civilising art of the metallurgist remained to\nthe last unknown; and in Mexico, it appears as a gift of recent origin,\nderived from Central America. The Asiatic origin of the art of\nTubal-cain has, indeed, been pretty generally assumed, both for Central\nand Southern America; but by mere inference. In doing so, we are carried\nback to some mythic Quetzalcoatl: for neither the metallurgist nor his\nart was introduced in recent centuries. Assuming, for the sake of\nargument, the dispersion of a common population of Asia and America,\nalready familiar with the working of metals, and with architecture,\nsculpture and other kindred arts, at a date coeval with the founding of\nTyre, \u201cthe daughter of Sidon,\u201d what help does language give us in favour\nof such a postulate? We have great language groups, such as the\nHuron-Iroquois, extending of old from the St. Lawrence to North\nCarolina; the Algonkin, from Hudson Bay to South Carolina; the Dakotan,\nfrom the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains; the Athabascan, from the\nEskimo frontier, within the Arctic circle, to New Mexico; and the Tinn\u00e9\nfamily of languages west of the Rocky Mountains, from the Youkon and\nMackenzie rivers, far south on the Pacific slope. With those, as with\nthe more cultured languages, or rather languages of the more cultured\nraces, of Central and Southern America, elaborate comparisons have been\nmade with vocabularies of Asiatic languages; but the results are, at\nbest, vague. Curious points of agreement have, indeed, been\ndemonstrated, inviting to further research; but as yet the evidence of\nrelationship mainly rests on correspondence in structure. The\nagglutinative suffixes are common to the Eskimo and many American Indian\ntongues. Dr. H. Rink describes the polysynthetic process in the Eskimo\nlanguage as founded on radical words, to which additional or imperfect\nwords, or affixes, are attached; and on the inflexion, which, for\ntransitive verbs, indicates subject as well as object, likewise by\naddition. But, while Professor Flower unhesitatingly characterises the\nEskimo as belonging to the typical North Asiatic Mongols; he, at the\nsame time, speaks of them as almost as perfectly isolated in their\nArctic home \u201cas an island population.\u201d Nevertheless, the same structure\nis common to their language and to those of the great North American\nfamilies already named. All alike present, in an exaggerated form, the\ncharacteristic structure of the Ural-Altaic or Turanian group of Asiatic\nlanguages.\n\nRace-type corresponds in the Old and New World. A comparison of\nlanguages by means of the vocabularies of the two continents, yields no\nsuch correspondence. All the more, therefore, is the American student of\ncomparative philology stimulated to investigate the significance of the\npolysynthetic characteristic found to pertain to so many\u2014though by no\nmeans to all\u2014of the languages of this continent. The relationship which\nit suggests to the agglutinative languages of Asia, furnishes a subject\nof investigation not less interesting to American students, alike of the\nscience of language, and of the whole comprehensive questions which\nanthropology embraces, than the relations of the Romance languages of\nEurope to the parent Latin; or of Latin itself, and all the Aryan\nlanguages, ancient and modern, not only to Sanskrit and Zend, but to the\nindeterminate stock which furnished the parent roots, the grammatical\nforms, and that whole class of words still recognisable as the common\nproperty of the whole Aryan family. Sanskrit was a dead language three\nthousand years ago; the English language, as such, cannot claim to have\nendured much more than fourteen centuries, yet both partake of the same\ncommon property of numerals and familiar terms existing under certain\nmodifications in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Celtic, German,\nAnglo-Saxon, and in all the Romance languages. Thus far the American\nphilologist has been unable to show any such genealogical relationship\npervading the native languages; or to recover specific evidence of\naffinities to languages, and so to races of other continents. There are,\nindeed, linguistic families, such as some already referred to,\nindicating a common descent among widely dispersed tribes; but this has\nits chief interest in relation to another aspect of the question.\n\nProfessor Max M\u00fcller has drawn attention to the tendency of the\nlanguages of America towards an endless multiplication of distinct\ndialects. Those again have been grouped by the synthetic process of\nHervas into eleven families: seven for the northern continent, and four\nfor South America. But we are as yet only on the threshold of this\nimportant branch of research. In two papers contributed by M. Lucien\nAdam to the _Congr\u00e8s International des Americanistes_, he gives the\nresults of a careful examination of sixteen languages of North and South\nAmerica; and arrives at the conclusion that they belong to a number of\nindependent families as essentially distinct as they would have been\n\u201chad there been primitively several human pairs.\u201d Dr. Brinton, one of\nthe highest authorities on any question connected with native American\nlanguages, contributed a paper to the _American Antiquarian_ (Jan.\n1886), \u201cOn the Study of the Nahuatl Language.\u201d This language, which is\npopularly known as Aztec, he strongly commends to the study of American\nphilologists. It is one of the most completely organised of Indian\nlanguages, has a literature of considerable extent and variety, and is\nstill in use by upwards of half a million of people. It is from this\narea, southward through Central America, and in the great seat of native\nSouth American civilisation, that we can alone hope to recover direct\nevidence of ancient intercourse between the Old and the New World. But,\nhere again, the complexities of language seem to grow apace. In Dr.\nBrinton\u2019s _Notes on the Mangue, an extinct Language formerly spoken in\nNicaragua_, he states, as a result of his later studies, that the belief\nwhich he once entertained of some possible connection between this\ndialect and the Aymara of Peru, has not been confirmed on further\nexamination. This, therefore, tends to sustain the prevailing opinion of\nscholars that there is no direct affiliation between the languages of\nNorth and South America. All this is suggestive either of an idea, such\nas that which Agassiz favoured in his system of natural provinces of the\nanimal world, in relation to different types of man, on which he based\nthe conclusion that the diverse varieties of American man originated in\nvarious centres, and had been distributed from them over the entire\ncontinent; or we must assume immigration from different foreign centres.\nAccepting the latter as the more tenable proposition, I long ago\nsketched a scheme of immigration such as seemed to harmonise with the\nsuggestive, though imperfect evidence. This assumed the earliest current\nof population, in its progress from a supposed Asiatic cradleland, to\nhave spread through the islands of the Pacific, and reached the South\nAmerican continent before any excess of population had diffused itself\ninto the inhospitable northern steppes of Asia. By an Atlantic oceanic\nmigration, another wave of population occupied the Canaries, Madeiras,\nand the Azores, and so passed to the Antilles, Central America, and\nprobably by the Cape Verdes, or, guided by the more southern equatorial\ncurrent, to Brazil. Latest of all, Behring Strait and the North Pacific\nIslands may have become the highway for a migration by which certain\nstriking diversities among nations of the northern continent, including\nthe conquerors of the Mexican plateau, are most easily accounted for.\n\nIt is not necessary to include in the question here discussed, the more\ncomprehensive one of the existence of man in America contemporary with\nthe great extinct animals of the Quaternary Period; though the\nacknowledged affinities of Asiatic and American anthropology, taken in\nconnection with the remoteness of any assignable period for migration\nfrom Asia to the American continent, renders it far from improbable that\nthe latest oscillations of land may here also have exercised an\ninfluence. The present soundings of Behring Strait, and the bed of the\nsea extending southward to the Aleutian Islands, entirely accord with\nthe assumption of a former continuity of land between Asia and America.\nThe idea to which the speculations of Darwin, founded on his\nobservations during the voyage of the \u2018Beagle\u2019 gave rise, of a\ncontinuous subsidence of the Pacific Ocean, also favoured the\nprobability of greater insular facilities for trans-oceanic migration at\nthe supposed period of the peopling of America from Asia. But more\nrecent explorations, and especially those connected with the\n\u2018Challenger\u2019 expedition, fail to confirm the old theory of the origin of\nthe coral islands of the Pacific; and in any view of the case, we must\nbe content to study the history of existing races, alike of Europe and\nAmerica, apart from questions relating to pal\u00e6ocosmic man. If the vague\nlegend of the lost Atlantis embodies any trace of remotest historical\ntradition, it belongs to a modern era compared with the men either of\nthe European drift, or of the post-glacial deposits of the Delaware and\nthe auriferous gravels of California. When resort is had to comparative\nphilology, it is manifest that we must be content to deal with a more\nrecent era than contemporaries of the Mastodon, and their congeners of\nEurope\u2019s Mammoth and Reindeer periods, notwithstanding the fact that the\nmodern representatives of the latter have been sought within the\nAmerican Arctic circle.\n\nSuch evidence as a comparison of languages thus far supplies, lends more\ncountenance to the idea of migration through the islands of the Pacific,\nthan to such a route from the Mediterranean as is implied in any\nsignificance attached to the legend of Atlantis. As to the Behring\nStrait route, present ethnology and philology point rather to an\noverflow of Arctic American population into Asia. Gallatin was the first\nto draw attention to certain analogies in the structure of Polynesian\nand American languages, as deserving of investigation; and pointed out\nthe peculiar mode of expressing the tense, mood, and voice of the verb,\nby affixed particles, and the value given to place over time, as\nindicated in the predominant locative verbal form. Such are to be looked\nfor with greater probability among the languages of South America; but\nthe substitution of affixed particles for inflections, especially in\nexpressing the direction of action in relation to the speaker, is common\nto the Polynesian and the Oregon languages, and has analogies in the\nCherokee. The distinction between the inclusive and exclusive pronoun\n_we_, according as it means \u201cyou and I,\u201d or \u201cthey and I,\u201d etc., is as\ncharacteristic of the Maori as of the Ojibway. Other observations of\nmore recent date have still further tended to countenance the\nrecognition of elements common to the languages of Polynesia and\nAmerica; and so to point to migration by the Pacific to the western\ncontinent.\n\nBut this idea of a migration through the islands of the Pacific receives\ncurious confirmation from another source. In an ingenious paper on \u201cThe\nOrigin of Primitive Money,\u201d[1] originally read at the meeting of the\nBritish Association at Montreal in 1884, Mr. Horatio Hale shows that\nthere is good reason for believing that the most ancient currency in\nChina consisted of disks and slips of tortoise shell. The fact is stated\nin the great Chinese encyclop\u00e6dia of the Emperor Kang-he, who reigned in\nthe early years of the eighteenth century; and the Chinese annalists\nassert that metal coins have been in use from the time of Fuh-he, about\nB.C. 2950. Without attempting to determine the specific accuracy of\nChinese chronology, it is sufficient to note here that the most ancient\nform of Chinese copper cash is the disk, perforated with a square hole,\nso as to admit of the coins being strung together. This, which\ncorresponds in form to the large perforated shell-disks, or native\ncurrency of the Indians of California, and with specimens recovered from\nancient mounds, Mr. Hale regards as the later imitation in metal of the\noriginal Chinese shell money. A similar shell-currency, as he shows, is\nin use among many islanders of the Pacific; and he traces it from the\nLoo-Choo Islands, across the vast archipelago, through many island\ngroups, to California; and then overland, with the aid of numerous\ndisclosures from ancient mounds, to the Atlantic coast, where the\nIndians of Long Island were long noted for its manufacture in the later\nform of wampum. \u201cThe natives of Micronesia,\u201d says Mr. Hale, who, it will\nbe remembered, records the results of personal observation, \u201cin\ncharacter, usages, and language, resemble to a certain extent the\nnations of the southern and eastern Pacific groups, which are included\nin the designation of Polynesia, but with some striking differences,\nwhich careful observers have ascribed, with great probability, to\ninfluences from north-eastern Asia. They are noted for their skill in\nnavigation. They have well-rigged vessels, exceeding sixty feet in\nlength. They sail by the stars, and are accustomed to take long\nvoyages.\u201d To such voyagers, the Pacific presents no more formidable\nimpediments to oceanic enterprise than did the Atlantic to the Northmen\nof the tenth century.\n\nThroughout the same archipelago, modern exploration is rendering us\nfamiliar with examples of remarkable stone structures and colossal\nsculptured figures, such as those from Easter Island now in the British\nMuseum. Rude as they undoubtedly are, they are highly suggestive of an\naffinity to the megalithic sculptures and cyclopean masonry of Peru.\nMonuments of this class were noted long ago by Captain Beechy on some of\nthe islands nearest the coasts of Chili and Peru. Since then the\nmegalithic area has been extended by their discovery in other island\ngroups lying towards the continent of Asia.\n\nAnother subsidiary class of evidence of a different kind, long since\nnoted by me, gives additional confirmation to this recovered trail of\nancient migration through the islands of the Pacific to the American\ncontinent. The practice to which the Flathead Indians of Oregon and\nBritish Columbia owe their name, the compressed skulls from Peruvian\ncemeteries, and the widely diffused evidence of the prevalence of such\nartificial malformation among many American tribes, combine to indicate\nit as one of the most characteristic American customs. Yet the evidence\nis abundant which shows it not only as a practice among rude Asiatic\nMongol tribes of primitive centuries; but proves that it was still in\nuse among the Huns and Avars who contended with the Barbarians from the\nBaltic for the spoils of the decaying Roman empire. Nor was it merely\ncommon to tribes of both continents. It furnishes another link in the\nchain of evidence of ancient migration from Asia to America; as is\nproved by its practice in some of the islands of the Pacific, as\ndescribed by Dr. Pickering,[2] and since abundantly confirmed by the\nforms of Kanaka skulls. By following up the traces of this strange\ncustom, perpetuated among the tribes on the Pacific coasts both of\nNorthern and Southern America to our own day, we thus once more retrace\nthe steps of ancient wanderers, and are carried back to centuries when\nthe Macrocephali of the Euxine attracted the observant eye of\nHippocrates, and became familiar to Strabo, Pliny, and Pomponius Mela.\n\nBut the wanderings among the insular races of the Pacific are not\nlimited to such remote eras. Later changes are also recorded by other\nevidence. The direct relationship of existing Polynesian languages is\nnot Mongol but Malay; but this is the intrusive element of a time long\nsubsequent to the growth of characteristic features which still\nperpetuate traces of Polynesian and American affinities. The number and\ndiversity of the languages of the continent of America, and their\nessentially native vocabularies, prove that the latter have been in\nprolonged process of development, free from contact with languages which\nappear to have been still modelling themselves according to the same\nplan of thought in many scattered islands of the Pacific.\n\nThe remarkable amount of culture in the languages of some of the\nbarbarous nations of North America, traceable, apparently, to the\nimportant part which the orator played in their deliberative assemblies,\nhas not unnaturally excited surprise: but in any attempt to recover the\nhistory of the New World by the aid of philology we must deal with the\nlanguages of its civilised races. Among those the Nahuatl or Aztec has\nbeen appealed to; and the Mayas have been noted as a lettered people\nwhose hieroglyphic records, and later transcripts of written documents,\nare now the object of intelligent investigation both by European and\nAmerican philologists. The Maya language strikingly contrasts, in its\nsoft, vocalic forms, with the languages of nations immediately to the\nnorth of its native area. It is that which, according to Stephens, was\naffirmed to be still spoken by a living race in a region beyond the\nGreat Sierra, extending to Yucatan and the Mexican Gulf. Others among\nthe cultured native languages which seem to invite special study are the\nAymara and the Quichua. Of these, the latter was the classical language\nof South America, wherein, according to its native historians, the\nPeruvian chroniclers and poets incorporated the national legends. It may\nbe described as having occupied a place under Inca rule analogous to\nthat of the Norman French in England from the eleventh to the thirteenth\ncentury. To those ancient, cultured languages of the seats of an\nindigenous civilisation, and with a literature of their own, attention\nis now happily directed. The students of American ethnology begin to\nrealise that the buried mounds of Assyria are not richer in discoveries\nrelative to the ancient history of Asia than are the monuments, the\nhieroglyphic records, and the languages of Central America and Peru, in\nrelation to a native social life which long flourished as a product of\ntheir own West. To this occidental Assyria we have to look for an answer\nto many inquiries, especially interesting to the intrusive occupants of\nthe western continent. If its architecture and sculpture, and the\nhieroglyphic records with which they are enriched, are modifications of\na prehistoric Asiatic civilisation, it is here that the evidence is to\nbe looked for; and if the arts of the sculptor and architect were\nbrought to the continent of America by wanderers from an Asiatic\nfatherland, then those of the potter and of the metallurgist will also\nprove to be an inheritance from the old Asiatic hive of the nations.\n\nFrom the evidence thus far adduced it appears that ethnically the\nAmerican is Mongol, and by the agglutinative element in many of the\nnative languages may be classed as Turanian. The Finnic hypothesis of\nRask, however much modified by later reconsideration of the question of\nthe origin of the Aryans, as well as the European melanochroic Metis of\nHuxley, pertains to a prehistoric era of which the Finns and the Basques\nare assumed to be survivals; and to that elder era, rather than to any\ndate within the remotest limits of authentic history, the languages of\nAmerica seem to refer us in the search for any common origin with those\nof the eastern hemisphere. But a zealous comparative philologist,\nalready referred to, has sought for linguistic traces of relationship\nbetween the Old and the New World which, if confirmed, would better\nharmonise with the traditions of intercourse between the maritime\nnations of the eastern Mediterranean and a continent lying outside of\nthe Pillars of Hercules. In his investigations he aims at determining\nthe relations of the Aztec or Nahuatl culture and language to those of\nAsia. Humboldt long ago claimed for much of the former an Old World\nderivation. It seems premature to attempt to deduce any comprehensive\nresults from the meagre data thus far gathered. But the author of _The\nKhita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, in tracing the progress of his Sumerian\nrace, assigns an interval of 4000 years since their settlement in\nBabylonia and India. In like manner, on the assumption of their\nmigration from a common Asiatic centre, which the division of Western\nand Eastern Sumerian in pronouns and other details is thought to\nindicate, Peru, it is conceived, may have been reached by a migratory\nwave of earlier movement, from 4000 to 5000 years ago. Mr. Hyde Clarke\nindeed conceives that it is quite within compass that the same great\nwave of migration which passed over India and Babylonia, continued to\npropagate its centrifugal force, and that by its means Peru was reached\nwithin the last 3000 years. But, whatever intercourse may possibly have\nthen been carried on between the Old and the New World, it must be\nobvious, on mature reflection, that so recent a date for the peopling of\nSouth America from Asia is as little reconcilable with the very remote\ntraces of linguistic affinity thus far adduced, as it is with any\nfancied relationship with a lost Atlantis of the elder world. The\nenduring affinities of long-parted languages of the Old World tell a\nvery different tale. With the comparative philologist, as with the\narch\u00e6ologist, time is more and more coming to be recognised as an\nall-important factor.\n\nBut, leaving the estimate of centuries out of consideration, in the\nresearches into the origin of the peculiar native civilisation of\nAmerica here referred to, the recently deciphered Akkad is accepted as\nthe typical language of the Sumerian class. This is assumed to have\nstarted from High Asia, and to have passed on to Babylonia; while\nanother branch diffused itself by India and Indo-China, and thence, by\nway of the islands of the Pacific, reached America. Hence, in an\nillustrative table of Sumerian words arranged under four heads, as\nWestern, Indo-Chinese, Peruvian, and Mexican, etc., it is noted that\n\u201cwhile in some cases a root may be traced throughout, it will be seen\nthat more commonly the western and American roots or types, cross in the\nIndo-Chinese region.\u201d But another and older influence, related to the\nAgaw of the Nile region, is also traced in the Guarani, Omagua, and\nother languages of South America, indicating evidences of more remote\nrelations with the Old World, and with the African continent. This is\nsupposed to have been displaced by a Sumerian migration by which the\nAymara domination was established in Peru, and the Maya element\nintroduced into Yucatan. Those movements are assumed to belong to an era\nof civilisation, during which the maritime enterprise of the Pacific may\nhave been carried on upon a scale unknown to the most adventurous of\nmodern Malay navigators, notwithstanding the essentially maritime\ncharacter by which the race is still distinguished. All this implies\nthat the highway to the Pacific was familiar to both continents; and\nhence a second migration is recognised, in certain linguistic relations,\nbetween the Siamese and other languages of Indo-China, and the Quichua\nand Aztec of Peru and Mexico. But the problem of the origin of the races\nof the western continent, and of the sources of its native civilisation,\nis still in that preliminary stage in which the accumulation of\nmaterials on which future induction may be based is of more value than\nthe most comprehensive generalisations.\n\nThe vastness of the American twin continents, with their Atlantic and\nPacific seaboard reaching from the Arctic well-nigh to the Antarctic\ncircle, furnishes a tempting stimulus to theories of migration on the\ngrandest scale, and to the assumption of comprehensive schemes of\ninternational relation in prehistoric centuries. But they are not more\nsubstantial than the old legend of Atlantis. The best that can be said\nof them is that here, at any rate, are lines of research in the\nprosecution of which American ethnologists may employ their learning and\nacumen encouraged by the hope of yet revealing a past not less\nmarvellous, and possessing a more personal interest, than all which\ngeology has recovered from the testimony of the rocks. But before such\ncan be more than dimly guessed at, the patient diligence of many\nstudents will be needed to accumulate the needful materials. Nor can we\nafford to delay the task. The Narraganset Bible, the work of Eliot, the\napostle of the Indians, is the memorial of a race that has perished;\nwhile other nations and languages have disappeared since his day, with\nno such invaluable record of their character. Mr. Horatio Hale published\nin the _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, in 1883, a\npaper on the \u201cTutelo Tribe and Language,\u201d derived from Nikonha, the last\nsurvivor of a once powerful tribe of North Carolina. To Dr. Brinton, we\nowe the recent valuable notes on the Mangue, another extinct language.\nOn the North-western Canadian prairies the buffalo has disappeared, and\nthe Indian must follow. On all hands, we are called upon to work\ndiligently while it is yet time, in order to accumulate the materials\nout of which the history of the western hemisphere is to be evolved.\n\nIt accords with the idea of Polynesian genealogy, that indications\nsuggestive of grammatical affinity have been noted in languages of South\nAmerica, in their mode of expressing the tense of the verb; in the\nformation of causative, reciprocal, potential, and locative verbs by\naffixes; and in the general system of compound word structure. The\nincorporation of the particle with the verbal root, appears to embody\nthe germ of the more comprehensive American holophrasms. Such affinities\npoint to others more markedly Asiatic; for analogies recognised between\nthe languages of the Deccan and those of the Polynesian group in\nrelation to the determinative significance of the formative particles on\nthe verbal root, reappear in some of the characteristic peculiarities of\nAmerican languages. On this subject, the Rev. Richard Garnett remarked,\nin a communication to the Philological Society, that most of the native\nAmerican languages of which we have definite information, bear a general\nanalogy alike to the Polynesian family and to the languages of the\nDeccan, in their methods of distinguishing the various modifications of\ntime; and he adds: \u201cWe may venture to affirm, in general terms, that a\nSouth American verb is constructed precisely as those in the Tamil and\nother languages of Southern India; consisting, like them, of a verbal\nroot, a second element defining the time of the action, and a third\ndenoting the subject or person.\u201d\n\nSo far it becomes apparent that the evidence, derived alike from\nlanguage and from other sources, points to the isolation of the American\ncontinent through unnumbered ages. The legend of the lost Atlantis is\ntrue in this, if in nothing else, that it relegates the knowledge of the\nworld beyond the Atlantic, by the maritime races of the Mediterranean,\nto a time already of hoar antiquity in the age of Socrates, or even of\nSolon. But at a greatly later date the Caribbean Sea was scarcely more a\nmystery to the dwellers on the shores of the \u00c6gean, than was the Baltic\nor the North Sea. Herodotus, indeed, expressly affirms his disbelief in\n\u201ca river, called by the barbarians, Eridanus, which flows into a\nnorthern sea, and from which there is a report that amber is wont to\ncome.\u201d Nevertheless, we learn from him of Greek traders exchanging\npersonal ornaments and woven stuffs for the furs and amber of the North.\nThey ascended the Dneiper as far as Gerrhos, a trading-post, forty days\u2019\njourney inland; and the tokens of their presence there have been\nrecovered in modern times. Not only hoards of Greek coins, minted in the\nfifth century B.C., but older golden gryphons of Assyrian workmanship\nhave been recovered during the present century, near Bromberg in Posen,\nand at Kiev on the Dneiper. As also, afar on the most northern island of\nthe Azores, hoards of Carthaginian coins have revealed traces of the old\nPunic voyager there; if still more ancient voyagers from Sidon, Tyre, or\nSeleucia, did find their way in some forgotten century to lands that lay\nbeyond the waste of waters which seemed to engirdle their world: similar\nevidence may yet be forthcoming among the traces of ancient native\ncivilisation in Central or Southern America.\n\nBut also the carving of names and dates, and other graphic memorials of\nthe passing wayfarer, is no mere modern custom. When the sites of\nGreenland settlements of the Northmen of the tenth century were\ndiscovered in our own day, the runic inscriptions left no room for doubt\nas to their former presence there. By like evidence we learn of them in\nsouthern lands, from their runes still legible on the marble lion of the\nPir\u00e6us, since transported to its later site in the arsenal of Venice. At\nMaeshowe in Orkney, in St. Molio\u2019s Cave on the Clyde, at Kirk Michael in\nthe Isle of Man, and on many a rock and stone by the Baltic, the\nsea-rovers from the north have left enduring evidence of their\nwanderings. So was it with the Roman. From the Moray Firth to the Libyan\ndesert, and from the Iberian shore to the Syrian valleys, sepulchral,\nlegionary, and mythological inscriptions, as well as coins, medals,\npottery, and works of art, mark the footprints of the masters of the\nworld. In Italy itself Perusinian, Eugubine, Etruscan, and Greek\ninscriptions tell the story of a succession of races in that beautiful\npeninsula. It was the same, through all the centuries of Hellenic\nintellectual rule, back to the unrivalled inscription at Abbu Simbel.\nThis was cut, says Dr. Isaac Taylor,[3] \u201cwhen what we call Greek history\ncan hardly be said to have commenced: two hundred years before\nHerodotus, the Father of History, had composed his work; a century\nbefore Athens began to rise to power. More ancient even than the epoch\nassigned to Solon, Thales, and the seven wise men of Greece: it must be\nplaced in the half-legendary period at which the laws of Dracon are said\nto have been enacted\u201d;\u2014the period, in fact, from which the legend of\nAtlantis was professedly derived. Yet there the graven characters\nperpetuate their authentic bit of history, legible to this day, of the\nson of Theokles, sailing with his company up the Nile, when King\nPsamatichos came to Elephantina. So it is with Egyptians, Assyrians,\nPh\u0153nicians, and with the strange forgotten Hittites, whose vast empire\nhas vanished out of the world\u2019s memory. The lion of the Pir\u00e6us, with its\ngraven runes, is a thing of yesterday, compared with the inscribed lion\nfrom Marash, with its Hittite hieroglyphs, now in the museum at\nConstantinople; for the Hittite capital, Ketesh, was captured by the\nEgyptian Sethos, B.C. 1340. All but the name of this once powerful\npeople seemed to have perished. Yet the inscribed stones, by which they\nwere to be restored to their place in history, remained, awaiting the\ninterpretation of an enlightened age.\n\nIf then, traces of the lost Atlantis are ever to be recovered in the New\nWorld, it must be by some indubitable memorial of a like kind. Old as\nthe legend may be, it is seen that literal graphic memorials\u2014Assyrian,\nPh\u0153nician, Khita, Egyptian, and Greek,\u2014still remain to tell of times\neven beyond the epoch assigned to Solon. The antiquaries of New England\nhave sought in vain for runic memorials of the Northmen of the tenth\ncentury; and the diligence of less trustworthy explorers for traces of\nancient records has been stimulated to excess, throughout the North\nAmerican continent, with results little more creditable to their honesty\nthan their judgment. What some chance disclosure may yet reveal, who can\npresume to guess? But thus far it appears to be improbable that within\nthe area north of the Gulf of Mexico, evidences of the presence of\nPh\u0153nician, Greek, or other ancient historic race will now be found.\nCertain it is that, whatever transient visits may have been paid to\nNorth America by representatives of Old World progress, no long-matured\ncivilisation, whether of native or foreign origin, has existed there.\nThrough all the centuries of which definite history has anything to\ntell, it has remained a world apart, secure in its isolation, with\nlanguages, arts, and customs essentially native in character. The\nnations of the Maya stock appear to have made the greatest progress in\ncivilisation of all the communities of Central America. They dwelt in\ncities adorned with costly structures dedicated to the purposes of\nreligion and the state; and had political government, and forms of\nsocial organisation, to all appearance, the slow growth of many\ngenerations. They had, also, a well-matured system of chronology; and\nhave left behind them graven and written records, analogous to those of\nancient Egypt, which still await decipherment. Whether this culture was\npurely of native growth, or had its origin from the germs of an Old\nWorld civilisation, can only be determined when its secrets have been\nfully mastered. The region is even now very partially explored. The\nstudents of American ethnology and arch\u00e6ology are only awakening to some\nadequate sense of its importance. But there appears to have been the\ncentre of a native American civilisation whence light was slowly\nradiating on either hand, before the vandals of the Spanish Conquest\nquenched it in blood. The civilisation of Mexico was but a borrowed\nreflex of that of Central America; and its picture-writing is a very\ninferior imitation of the ideography of the Maya hieroglyphics.\n\nA tendency manifests itself anew to trace the metallurgy, the letters,\nthe astronomical science, and whatever else marks the quickening into\nintellectual life of this American leading race, to an Asiatic or other\nOld World origin. The point, however, is by no means established; nor\ncan any reason be shown why the human intellect might not be started on\nthe same course in Central America, as in Mesopotamia or the valley of\nthe Nile. If we assume the primary settlement of Central America by\nexpeditions systematically carried on under the auspices of some ancient\nmaritime power of the Mediterranean, or of an early seat of Iberian or\nLibyan civilisation, then they would, undoubtedly, transplant the arts\nof their old home to the New World. But, on the more probable\nsupposition of wanderers, either by the Atlantic or the Pacific, being\nlanded on its shores, and becoming the undesigned settlers of the\ncontinent, it is otherwise; and the probabilities are still further\ndiminished if we conceive of ocean wanderers from island to island of\nthe Pacific, at length reaching the shores of the remote continent after\nthe traditions of their Asiatic fatherland had faded from the memory of\nlater generations. The condition of metallurgy as practised by the\nMexicans and Peruvians exhibited none of the matured phases of an\ninheritance from remote generations, but partook rather of the tentative\ncharacteristics of immature native art.\n\nWe are prone to overestimate the facilities by which the arts of\ncivilisation may be transplanted to remote regions. It is not greatly\nmore difficult to conceive of the rediscovery of some of the essential\nelements of human progress than to believe in the transference of them\nfrom the eastern to the western hemisphere by wanderers from either\nEurope or Asia. Take the average type of emigrants, such as are annually\nlanded by thousands at New York. They come from the most civilised\ncountries of Europe. Yet, how few among them all could be relied upon\nfor any such intelligent comprehension of metallurgy, if left entirely\nto their own resources, as to be found able to turn the mineral wealth\nof their new home to practical account; or for astronomical science,\nsuch as would enable them to construct a calendar, and start afresh a\nsystematic chronology. As to letters, the picture-writing of the Aztecs\nwas the same in principle as the rude art of the northern Indians; and I\ncannot conceive of any reason for rejecting the assumption of its native\norigin as an intellectual triumph achieved by the labours of many\ngenerations. Every step is still traceable, from the rude picturings on\nthe Indian\u2019s grave-post or rock inscription, to the systematic\nideographs of Palenque or Copan. Hieroglyphics, as the natural outgrowth\nof pictorial representation, must always have a general family likeness;\nbut all attempts to connect the civilisation of Central and Southern\nAmerica with that of Egypt fail, so soon as a comparison is instituted\nbetween the Egyptian calendar and any of the native American systems of\nrecording dates and computing time. The vague year of 365 days, and the\ncorrected solar year, with the great Sothic Cycle of 1460 years, so\nintimately interwoven with the religious system and historical\nchronology of the Egyptians, abundantly prove the correction of the\nEgyptian calendar by accumulated experience, at a date long anterior to\nthe resort of the Greek astronomer, Thales, to Egypt. At the close of\nthe fifteenth century, the Aztecs had learned to correct their calendar\nto solar time; but their cycle was one of only fifty-two years. The\nPeruvians also had their recurrent religious festivals, connected with\nthe adjustment of their sacred calendar to solar time; but the\ngeographical position of Peru, with Quito, its holy city, lying\nimmediately under the equator, greatly simplified the process by which\nthey regulated their religious festivals by the solstices and equinoxes.\nThe facilities which their equatorial position afforded for determining\nthe few indispensable periods in their calendar were, indeed, a doubtful\nadvantage, for they removed all stimulus to progress. The Mexican\ncalendar is the most remarkable evidence of the civilisation attained by\nthat people. Humboldt unhesitatingly connected it with the ancient\nscience of south-eastern Asia. But instead of its exhibiting any such\ninevitable accumulation of error as that which gave so peculiar a\ncharacter to the historical chronology of the Egyptians, its computation\ndiffered less from true solar time than the unreformed Julian calendar\nwhich the Spaniards had inherited from pagan Rome. But though this\nsuffices to show that the civilisation of Mexico was of no great\nantiquity, it only accords with other evidence of its borrowed\ncharacter. The Mexicans stood in the same relation to Central America as\nthe Northern Barbarians of the third and fourth century did to Italy;\nand the intruding Spaniard nipped their germ of borrowed civilisation in\nthe bud. So long as the search for evidences either of a native or\nintruded civilisation is limited to the northern continent of America,\nit is equivalent to an attempt to recover the traces of Greek and Roman\ncivilisation in transalpine Europe. The Mexican calendar stone is no\nmore than the counterpart of some stray Greek or Roman tablet beyond the\nAlps; or rather, perhaps, of some M\u00e6sogothic product of borrowed art.\n\nWe must await, then, the intelligent exploration of Central America,\nbefore any certain conclusion can be arrived at relative to the story of\nthe New World\u2019s unknown past. On the sculptured tablets of Palenque,\nQuiriqua, Chichenitza, and Uxmal, and on the colossal statues at Copan\nand other ancient sites, are numerous inscriptions awaiting the\ndecipherment of the future Young or Champolion of American pal\u00e6ography.\nThe whole region was once in occupation by a lettered race, having the\nsame written characters and a common civilisation. If they owed to some\napostle from the Mediterranean the grand invention of letters, which, as\nBacon says, \u201cas ships, pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages\nso distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations and inventions,\nthe one of the other:\u201d then, we may confidently anticipate the recovery\nof some graphic memorial of the messenger, confirming the oft-recurring\ntraditions of bearded white men who came from beyond the sea, introduced\nthe arts of civilisation, and were reverenced as divine benefactors. It\ncannot be that Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, Ph\u0153nician, and other most\nancient races, are still perpetuated by so many traces of their\nwanderings in the Old World; that the Northmen\u2019s graphic runes have\nplaced beyond all question their pre-Columbian explorations; and yet\nthat not a single trace of Mediterranean wanderers to the lost Atlantis\nsurvives. In Humboldt\u2019s _Researches_, a fragment of a reputed Ph\u0153nician\ninscription is engraved. It was copied by Ranson Bueno, a Franciscan\nmonk, from a block of granite which he discovered in a cavern in the\nmountain chain, between the Orinoco and the Amazon. Humboldt recognised\nin it some resemblance to the Ph\u0153nician alphabet. We must remember,\nhowever, what rudely traced Ph\u0153nician characters are; and as to their\ntranscriber, it may be presumed that he had no knowledge of Ph\u0153nician.\nHumboldt says of him: \u201cThe good monk seemed to be but little interested\nabout this pretended inscription,\u201d though, he adds, he had copied it\nvery carefully.\n\n                 *        *        *        *        *\n\nThe lost Atlantis, then, lies still in the future. The earlier studies\nof the monuments and prehistoric remains of the American continent\nseemed to point conclusively to a native source for its civilisation.\nFrom quipu and wampum, pictured grave-post and buffalo robe, to the most\nfinished hieroglyphs of Copan or Palenque, continuous steps appear to be\ntraceable whereby American man developed for himself the same wondrous\ninvention of letters which ancient legend ascribed to Thoth or Mercury;\nor, in less mythic form, to the Ph\u0153nician Cadmus. Nor has the generally\naccepted assumption of a foreign origin for American metallurgy been\nplaced as yet on any substantial basis. Gold, as I believe, was\neverywhere the first metal wrought. The bright nugget tempted the\nsavage, with whom personal ornaments precede dress. It was readily\nfashioned into any desired shape. The same is true, though in a less\ndegree, of copper; and wherever, as on the American continent, native\ncopper abounds, the next step in metallurgy is to be anticipated. With\nthe discovery of the economic use of the metals, an all-important step\nhad been achieved, leading to the fashioning of useful tools, to\narchitecture, sculpture, pictorial ornamentation, and so to ideography.\nThe facilities for all this were, at least, as abundant in Central and\nSouthern America as in Egypt. The progress was, doubtless, slow; but\nwhen the Neolithic age began to yield to that of the metallurgist, the\nall-important step had been taken. The history of this first step is\nembodied in myths of the New World, no less than of the Old. Tubal-cain,\nD\u00e6dalus, Heph\u00e6stus, Vulcan, V\u0153lund, Galant, and Wayland the Saxon\nsmith-god, are all legendary variations of the first mastery of the use\nof the metals; and so, too, the New World has Quetzalcoatl, its divine\ninstructor in the same priceless art.\n\nIt forms one of the indisputable facts of ancient history that, long\nbefore Greece became the world\u2019s intellectual leader, the eastern\nMediterranean was settled by maritime races whose adventurous enterprise\nled them to navigate the Atlantic. There was no greater impediment to\nsuch adventurous mariners crossing that ocean in earliest centuries\nbefore Christ, than at any subsequent date prior to the revival of\nnavigation in the fifteenth century. It would not, therefore, in any\ndegree, surprise me to learn of the discovery of a genuine Ph\u0153nician, or\nother inscription; or, of some hoard of Assyrian gryphons, or shekels of\nthe merchant princes of Tyre \u201cthat had knowledge of the sea,\u201d being\nrecovered among the still unexplored treasures of the buried empire of\nMontezuma, or the long-deserted ruins of Central America. Such a\ndiscovery would scarcely be more surprising than that of the Punic\nhoards found at Corvo, the most westerly island of the Azores. Yet it\nwould furnish a substantial basis for the legend of Atlantis, akin to\nthat which the runic monuments of Kingiktorsoak and Igalikko supplied in\nconfirmation of the fabled charms of a Hesperian region lying within the\nArctic circle; and of the first actual glimpses of the American mainland\nby Norse voyagers of the tenth century, as told in more than one of\ntheir old Sagas. But until such evidence is forthcoming, the legendary\nAtlantis must remain a myth, and pre-Columbian America be still credited\nwith a self-achieved progress.\n\n-----\n\n[1] _Popular Science Monthly_, xxviii. 296.\n\n[2] _Races of Man_ (Bohn), p. 445.\n\n[3] _The Alphabet_, ii. 10.\n\n\n\n\n                                   II\n                       THE VINLAND OF THE NORTHMEN\n\n\nTHE idea that the western hemisphere was known to the Old World, prior\nto the ever-memorable voyage of Columbus four centuries ago, has\nreproduced itself in varying phases, not only in the venerable Greek\nlegend of the lost Atlantis; and the still vaguer myth of the Garden of\nthe Hesperides on the far ocean horizon, the region of the setting sun;\nbut in medi\u00e6val fancies and mythical epics. The Breton, in _The Earthly\nParadise_ of William Morris\u2014\n\n          Spoke of gardens ever blossoming\n    Across the western sea, where none grew old,\n    E\u2019en as the books at Micklegarth had told;\n    And said moreover that an English knight\n    Had had the Earthly Paradise in sight;\n    And heard the songs of those that dwelt therein;\n    But entered not; being hindered by his sin.\n\nA legend of medi\u00e6val hagiology tells of the Island of St. Brandon, the\nretreat of an Irish hermit of the sixth century. Another tale comes down\nto us from the time of the Caliph Walid, and the invincible Musa, of the\n\u201cSeven Islands\u201d whither the Christians of Gothic Spain fled under the\nguidance of their seven bishops, when, in the eighth century, the\npeninsula passed under the yoke of the victorious Saracens. The\nEyrbyggja Saga has a romantic story of Biorn Ashbrandsson, who narrowly\nescapes in a tempest raised by his enemy, with the aid of one skilled in\nthe black art. After undergoing many surprising adventures, he is\nfinally discovered by voyagers, \u201cin the latter days of Olaf the Saint,\u201d\nin a strange land beyond the ocean, the chief of a warlike race speaking\na language that seemed to be Irish. Biorn warned the voyagers to depart,\nfor the people had evil designs against them. But before they sailed, he\ntook a gold ring from his hand, and gave it to Gudleif, their leader,\nalong with a goodly sword; and commissioned him to give the sword to\nKiartan, the son of Thurid, wife of an Iceland thane at Froda, of whom\nhe had been enamoured; and the gold ring to his mother. This done, he\nwarned them that no man venture to renew the search for what later\ncommentators refer to as White Man\u2019s Land. In equally vague form the\nfancy of lands beyond the ocean perpetuated itself in an imaginary\nisland of Brazil that flitted about the charts of the fourteenth and\nfifteenth centuries with ever-varying site and proportions, till it\nvanished in the light of modern exploration.\n\nA more definite character has been given to the tale of Madoc, a Welsh\nprince of the twelfth century. Southey wove into an elaborate epic this\nlegend of the son of Owen Gwyneth, king of North Wales, who, _circa_\nA.D. 1170, sailed into the unknown west in search of a resting-place\nbeyond reach of his brother Yorwerth, then ridding himself of all rivals\nto the throne. He found a home in the New World, returned to Wales for\nadditional colonists to join the pioneer band; and setting sail with\nthem, vanished beyond the western horizon, and was heard of no more. The\npoet, while adapting it to the purpose of his art, was not without faith\nin the genuineness of the legend which he amplified into his epic; and\nnotes in the preface appended to it: \u201cStrong evidence has been adduced\nthat he (Prince Madoc) reached America; and that his posterity exist\nthere to this day on the southern branch of the Missouri, retaining\ntheir complexion, their language, and in some degree, their arts.\u201d But\nlater explorations have failed to discover any \u201cWelsh Indians\u201d on the\nMissouri or its tributaries.\n\nA small grain of fact will suffice at times for the crystallisation of\nvague and visionary fancies into a well-credited tradition. Before the\nprinting-press came into play, with its perpetuation of definite\nrecords, and prosaic sifting of evidence, this was no uncommon\noccurrence; but even in recent times fancy may be seen transmuted into\naccepted fact.\n\nWhen exploring the great earthworks of the Ohio valley, in 1874, I found\nmyself on one occasion in a large Welsh settlement, a few miles from\nNewark, where a generation of native-born Americans still perpetuate the\nlanguage of their Cymric forefathers, and conduct their religious\nservices in the Welsh tongue. My attention was first called to this by\nthe farmer, who had invited me to an early dinner after a morning\u2019s\ndigging in a mound on \u201cThe Evan\u2019s Farm,\u201d preceding our repast with a\nlong Welsh grace. From him I learned that the district had been settled\nin 1802 by a Welsh colony; and that in two churches in neighbouring\nvalleys\u2014one Calvinistic Congregational and another Methodist,\u2014the\nentire services are still conducted in their mother tongue. Such a\nperpetuation of the language and traditions of the race, in a quiet\nrural district, only required time and the confusion of dates and\ngenealogies by younger generations, to have engrafted the story of\nPrince Madoc on the substantial basis of a genuine Welsh settlement.\nSouthey\u2019s epic was published in 1805, within three years after this\nWelsh immigration to the Ohio valley. The subject of the poem naturally\ngave it a special attraction for American readers; and it was speedily\nreprinted in the United States, doubtless with the same indifference to\nthe author\u2019s claim of copyright as long continued to characterise the\nideas of literary ethics beyond the Atlantic. But the idea of a Welsh\nColumbus of the twelfth century was by no means received with universal\nfavour there. Southey quoted at a long-subsequent date a critical\npamphleteer who denounced the author of _Madoc_ as having \u201cmeditated a\nmost serious injury against the reputation of the New World by\nattributing its discovery and colonisation to a vagabond Welsh prince;\nthis being a most insidious attempt against the honour of America, and\nthe reputation of Columbus!\u201d\n\nIt is inevitable that America should look back to the Old World when in\nsearch of some elements of civilisation, and for the diversities of race\nand language traceable throughout the western hemisphere. The early\nstudents of the sculptured monuments and hieroglyphic records of Mexico,\nCentral America, and Peru, naturally turned to Egypt as their probable\nsource; though mature reflection has dissipated much of the reasoning\nbased on superficial analogies. The gradations from the most primitive\npicture-writing of the Indian savage to ideography and abbreviated\nsymbolism, are so clearly traceable in the various stages of progress,\nfrom the rude forest tribes to the native centres of civilisation in\nCentral and Southern America, that no necessity remains for assuming any\nforeign source for their origin.\n\nThat the world beyond the Atlantic had remained through unnumbered\ncenturies apart from Europe and the old East, until that memorable year\n1492, is indisputable; and there was at one time a disposition to resent\nany rivalry with the grand triumph of Columbus; as though patriotic\nspirit and national pride demanded an unquestioning faith in that as the\nsole link that bound America to the Old World. But the same spirit\nstimulated other nations to claim precedence of Spain and the great\nGenoese; and for this the Scandinavian colonists of Iceland had every\nprobability in their favour. They had navigated the Arctic Ocean with no\nother compass than the stars; and the publication in 1845, by the Danish\nantiquaries, of the _Grenlands Historiske Mindesm\u00e6rker_ recalled minute\ndetails of their settlements in the inhospitable region of the western\nhemisphere to which they gave the strange misnomer of Greenland. But the\nyear 1837 may be regarded as marking an epoch in the history of\nante-Columbian research. The issue in that earlier year of the\n_Antiquitates American\u00e6, sive scriptores septentrionales rerum\nante-Columbiarum in America_, by the Royal Society of Northern\nAntiquaries, under the editorship of Professor Charles Christian Rafn,\nproduced a revolution, alike in the form and the reception of\nillustrations of ante-Columbian American history. The publication of\nthat work gave a fresh interest to the vaguest intimations of a dubious\npast; while it superseded them by tangible disclosures, which, though\nmodern in comparison with such mythic antiquities as the Atlantis of\nPlato\u2019s _Dialogues_, nevertheless added some five centuries to the\nhistory of the New World. From its appearance, accordingly, may be dated\nthe systematic aim of American antiquaries and historians to find\nevidence of intercourse with the ancient world prior to the fifteenth\ncentury.\n\nThis influence became manifest in all ways; and abundant traces of the\nnovel idea are to be found in the popular literature of the time. It\nseemed as though the adventurous spirit of the early Greenland explorers\nhad revived, as in the days of the first Vinlanders, as told in the Saga\nof Eric the Red: \u201cAbout this time there began to be much talk at\nBrattahlid, to the effect that Vinland the Good should be explored; for\nit was said that country must be possessed of many good qualities. And\nso it came to pass that Karlsefne and Snorri fitted out their ship for\nthe purpose of going in search of that country.\u201d Only the modern\nVinlanders who follow in their wake have had for their problem to\u2014\n\n    Sail up the current of departed time\n    And seek along its banks that vanished clime\n    By ancient Scalds in Runic verse renowned,\n    Now like old Babylon no longer found.[4]\n\nThe indomitable race that emerged from the Scandinavian peninsula, and\nthe islands and shores of the Baltic, and overran and conquered the\ndeserted Roman world, supplied the maritime energy of Europe from the\nfifth to the tenth century; and colonised northern Italy with the\nelement to which we must assign the rise of its great maritime\nrepublics, including the one that was to furnish the discoverer of\nAmerica in the fifteenth century. Genoese and Spaniards could not have\nmade for themselves a home either in Greenland or Iceland. Had the\nNorthmen of the tenth century been less hardy, they would probably have\nprosecuted their discoveries, and found more genial settlements, such as\nhave since then proved the centres of colonisation for the\nAnglo-American race. But of their actual discovery of some portion of\nthe mainland of North America, prior to the eleventh century, there can\nbe no reasonable doubt. The wonder rather is that after establishing\npermanent settlements both in Iceland and Greenland, their southern\nexplorations were prosecuted with such partial and transient results.\nThe indomitable Vikings were conquering fresh territories on the coasts\nand islands of the North Sea, and giving a new name to the fairest\nregion of northern Gaul wrested by the Northmen from its Frank\nconquerors. The same hardy supplanters were following up such\nacquisitions by expeditions to the Mediterranean that resulted in the\nestablishment of their supremacy over ancient historic races there, and\ntraining leaders for later crusading adventure.\n\nThe voyage from Greenland, or even from Iceland, to the New England\nshores was not more difficult than from the native fiords of the\nNorthmen to the Atlantic seaboard, or to the coasts and islands of the\nMediterranean. Everywhere they left their record in graven runes. At\nMaeshowe in the Orkneys, on Holy Island in the Firth of Clyde, and at\nKirk Michael, Kirk Andreas, and Kirk Braddon, on the Isle of Man; or as\nthe relic of a more ancient past, on the marble lion of the Pir\u00e6us, now\nat the arsenal of Venice: their runic records are to be seen graven in\nthe same characters as those which have been recovered during the\npresent century from their early settlements beyond the Atlantic.\nNumerous similar inscriptions from the homes of the Northmen are\nfurnished in Professor George Stephens\u2019 _Old Northern Runic Monuments_,\nwhich perpetuate memorials of the love of adventure of those daring\nrovers, and the pride they took in their expeditions to remote and\nstrange lands. Intensified at a later stage by religious fervour, the\nsame spirit emboldened them as leaders in the Crusades; and some of\ntheir runic inscriptions tell of adventurous pilgrimages to the Holy\nLand. An Icelandic rover is designated on his rune-stone _Rafn\nHlmrckfari_ as a successful voyager to Ireland. Norwegian and Danish\nbautastein frequently preserve the epithet of _Englandsfari_ for the\nleaders of expeditions to the British Isles, or more vaguely refer to\ntheir adventures in \u201cthe western parts.\u201d King Sigurd of Norway proudly\nblazoned the title of _J\u00f3rsolafari_ as one who had achieved the\npilgrimage to Jerusalem; and the literate memorials of the Northmen of\nOrkney, recovered in 1861, on the opening of the famous Maeshowe\nTumulus, include those of a band of Crusaders, or Jerusalem-farers, who,\nin 1153, followed Earl Ragnvald to the Holy Land.\n\nThe inscribed rune-stones brought from the sites of the ancient Norse\ncolonies in Greenland, and now deposited in the Royal Museum of Northern\nAntiquities, at Copenhagen, are simple personal or sepulchral\ninscriptions. But they are graven in the northern runes, and as such\nconstitute monuments of great historical value: furnishing indisputable\nevidence of the presence of European colonists beyond the Atlantic\ncenturies before that memorable 12th of October 1492, on which the eyes\nof the wistful gazers from the deck of the \u201cSanta Maria\u201d were gladdened\nwith their first glimpse of what they believed to be the India of the\nfar east: the Cipango in search of which they had entered on their\nadventurous voyage.\n\nThe colonies of Greenland, after being occupied, according to Norwegian\nand Danish tradition, from the tenth to the fifteenth century, were\nentirely forgotten. The colonists are believed to have been exterminated\nby the native Eskimo. The very locality chosen for their settlements was\nso completely lost sight of that, when an interest in their history\nrevived, and expeditions were sent out to revisit the scene of early\nNorse colonisation beyond the Atlantic, much time was lost in a\nfruitless search on the coast lying directly west from Iceland. Towards\nthe middle of the seventeenth century, an oar drifted to the Iceland\ncoast, a relic, as was believed, of the long-lost colony of Greenland,\nbearing this inscription in runic characters: OFT VAR EK DASA DUR EK DRO\nTHICK\u2014_Oft was I weary when I drew thee_; but it was not till the close\nof the century that the traditions of the old Greenlanders began to\nexcite attention. Many a Norse legend pictured the enviable delights of\nthe fabled Hesperian region discovered within the Arctic circle, yet\nmeriting by the luxuriance of its fertile valleys its name of Greenland;\nand the fancies and legendary traditions that gradually displaced the\nhistory of the old colony, had been interwoven by the poet Montgomery\nwith the tale of self-sacrificing labours of Moravian Missionaries, in\nthe cantos of his _Greenland_ epic, long before the _Antiquitates\nAmerican\u00e6_ issued from the Copenhagen press.\n\nThe narrations of ancient voyagers, and their explorations in the New\nWorld, as brought to light in 1835 by the Copenhagen volume on\npre-Columbian America, were too truthful in their aspect to be slighted;\nand too fascinating in their revelations of a long-forgotten intercourse\nbetween the Old World and the New, to be willingly subjected to\nincredulous analysis. From the genuine literary memorials of older\ncenturies, sufficient evidence could be gleaned to place beyond\nquestion, not only the discovery and colonisation of Greenland by Eric\nthe Red,\u2014apparently in the year 985,\u2014but also the exploration of\nsouthern lands, some of which must have formed part of the American\ncontinent. The manuscripts whence those narratives are derived are of\nvarious dates, and differ widely in value; but of the genuineness and\nhistorical significance of the oldest of them, no doubt can be\nentertained. The accounts which some of them furnish are so simple, and\ndevoid of anything extravagant or improbable, that the internal evidence\nof truthfulness is worthy of great consideration. The exuberant fancy of\nthe Northmen, which revels in their mythology and songs, would have\nconstructed a very different tale had it been employed in the invention\nof a southern continent, or earthly Paradise fashioned from the dreams\nof Icelandic and Greenland rovers.\n\nThe narrative attaches itself to genuine Icelandic history; and\nfurnishes a coherent, and seemingly unexaggerated account of a voyage\ncharacterised by nothing that is supernatural; and little that is even\nromantic. Eric Thorvaldsson, more commonly referred to as Erikr Rauthi,\nor Eric the Red, a banished Icelandic jarl, made his way to the\nGreenland coast and effected a settlement at Igalikko, or Brattalid, as\nit was at first called, from whence one of the runic inscriptions now in\nthe Copenhagen museum was taken. Before the close of the century, if not\nin the very year A.D. 1000, in which St. Olaf was introducing\nChristianity into Norway, Leif, or Leiv Ericson, a son of the first\ncoloniser of Greenland, appears to have accidentally discovered the\nAmerican mainland. The story, current in Norwegian and Icelandic\ntradition, and repeated with additions and variations in successive\nSagas, most frequently ascribes to Leif an actual exploratory voyage in\nquest of southern lands already reported to have been seen by Bjarni\nHerjulfson. But the Sagas from whence the revived story of Vinland is\nderived are of different dates, and very varying degrees of credibility.\nOf those, the narrative in which the name of Bjarni Herjulfson first\nappears occurs in a manuscript of the latter part of the fourteenth\ncentury; and exhibits both amplifications and inconsistencies abundantly\njustifying its rejection as an authority for depriving Leif Ericson of\nthe honour of the discovery of the North American continent. He was on\nhis way from Norway to Greenland when he was driven out of his course,\nand so reached the mainland of the New World in that early century; even\nas, five centuries later, the Portuguese admiral, Pedro Alvarez Cabral,\nwhen on his way to the Cape, was driven westward to the coast of Brazil,\nand so to the discovery of the southern continent. For later generations\nthe tale of the old Vinland explorers\u2014whose goodly land of the vine,\nand of fertile meads of grain, had faded away as a dream,\u2014naturally\ngathered around it exaggerations and legendary fable; but such terms are\nwholly inapplicable to the original Saga. The story of Thorfinn\u2019s\nexpedition to effect a settlement on the new-found land, within three or\nfour years after Leif Ericson\u2019s reported discovery, is a simple,\nconsistent narrative, rendered attractive by natural and highly\nsuggestive incidents, but entirely free from mythical or legendary\nfeatures. This is obviously the basis of the varying and inconsistent\ntales of later Sagas. The year 1003 is the date assigned to the\nexpedition in which Thorfinn set out, with three ships and a\nconsiderable company of adventurers, and effected a temporary settlement\nof Vinland. Voyaging southward, he first landed on a barren coast where\na great plain covered with flat stones stretched from the sea to a lofty\nrange of ice-clad mountains. To this he gave the name of Helluland, from\n_hella_, a flat stone. The earlier editor, having the requirements of\nhis main theory in view, found in its characteristics evidence\nsufficient to identify it with Newfoundland; but Professor Gustav Storm\nassigns reasons for preferring Labrador as more probable.[5] The next\npoint touched presented a low shore of white sand, and beyond it a level\ncountry covered with forest, to which the name of Markland, or woodland,\nwas given. This, which, so far as the description can guide us, might be\nanywhere on the American coast, was assumed by the editor of the\n_Antiquitates American\u00e6_ to be Nova Scotia; but, according to Professor\nStorm, can have been no other country than Newfoundland. The voyagers,\nafter two more days at sea, again saw land; and of this the\ncharacteristic that the dew upon the grass tasted sweet, was accepted as\nsufficient evidence that Nantucket, where honey-dew abounds, is the\nplace referred to. Their further course shoreward, and up a river into\nthe lake from which it flowed, has been assumed to have been up the\nPacasset River to Mount Hope Bay. There the voyagers passed the winter.\nAfter erecting temporary booths, their leader divided them into two\nparties, which alternately proceeded on exploring excursions. One of his\nfollowers, a southerner,\u2014_sudrmadr_, or German, as he is assumed to\nhave been,\u2014having wandered, he reported on his return the discovery of\nwine-trees and grapes; and hence the name of Vineland, given to the\nlocality.\n\nThis land of the vine, discovered by ancient voyagers on the shores of\nthe New World, naturally awakened the liveliest interest in the minds of\nAmerican antiquaries and historical students; nor is that interest even\nnow wholly a thing of the past. Is this \u201cVinland the Good\u201d a reality?\nCan it be located on any definite site? Montgomery\u2019s _Greenland_ epic\nwas published in 1819; and the poet, with no American or Canadian pride\nof locality to beguile him in his interpretation of the evidence,\nobserves in one of the notes to his poem: \u201cLeif and his party wintered\nthere, and observed that on the shortest day the sun rose about eight\no\u2019clock, which may correspond with the forty-ninth degree of latitude,\nand denotes the situation of Newfoundland, or the River St. Lawrence.\u201d\nThe reference here is to the sole data on which all subsequent attempts\nto determine the geographical location of Vinland have been based; and\nafter upwards of sixty years of speculation and conjecture, Professor\nGustav Storm in his _Studier over Vinlandsreiserne_, arrives at a nearly\nsimilar conclusion. Vinland cannot have lain farther north than 49\u00b0. How\nfar southward of this its site may be sought for is matter of\nconjecture; but all probabilities are opposed to its discovery so far\nsouth as Rhode Island.\n\nProfessor Rafn, however, arrived at very different results; and found\nabundant confirmation in the sympathetic responses of the Rhode Island\nantiquaries. The famous Dighton Rock was produced, with its assumed\nrunic inscription. The Newport Round Tower was a still more satisfactory\nindication of permanent settlement by its supposed Norse builders; and\n\u201cThe Skeleton in Armour,\u201d on which Longfellow founded his ballad\nromance, was accepted without hesitation as a glimpse of one of the\nactual colonists of Vinland in the eleventh century. Professor Rafn\naccordingly summed up the inquiry, and set forth the conclusions arrived\nat, in this definite fashion. \u201cIt is the total result of the nautical,\ngeographical, and astronomical evidence in the original documents, which\nplaces the situations of the countries discovered beyond all doubt. The\nnumber of days\u2019 sail between the several newly-found lands, the striking\ndescription of the coasts, especially the sand-banks of Nova Scotia; and\nthe long beaches and downs of a peculiar appearance on Cape Cod (the\n_Kialarnes_ and _Furdustrandir_ of the Northmen,) are not to be\nmistaken. In addition hereto we have the astronomical remark that the\nshortest day in Vinland was nine hours long, which fixes the latitude of\n41\u00b0 24\u2032 10\u2033, or just that of the promontories which limit the entrance\nto Mount Hope Bay, where Leif\u2019s booths were built, and in the district\naround which the old Northmen had their head establishment, which was\nnamed by them _H\u00f3p_, or the Creek.\u201d\n\nThe Dighton Rock runes erelong fell into woeful discredit; and as for\nthe Newport Round Tower, it has been identified as \u201cThe Old Stone Mill\u201d\nbuilt there by Governor Benedict Arnold, who removed from Providence to\nNewport in 1653. Though therefore no longer to be accredited to the\nNorthmen, it is of very respectable architectural antiquity, according\nto New World reckoning. Nevertheless, in spite of such failure of all\nconfirmatory evidence, the general summary of results was presented by\nProfessor Rafn in such absolute terms, and the geographical details of\nthe assumed localities were so confidently accredited by the members of\nthe Rhode Island Historical Society, that his conclusions were accepted\nas a whole without cavil. In reality, however, when we revert to the\nevidence from which such definite results were derived, it proves vague,\nif not illusory. The voyagers crossed over from Greenland to Helluland,\nwhich we may assume without hesitation to have been the inhospitable\ncoast of Labrador. They then pursued a south-western course, in a voyage\nin all of four days, subdivided into two nearly equal parts, until they\nlanded on a coast where wild grapes grew, and which accordingly they\nnamed the Land of the Vine. To Icelandic or Greenland voyagers, the\nvine, with its clusters of grapes, however unpalatable, could not fail\nto prove an object of special note. But there is no need to prolong the\nfour days\u2019 run, and land the explorers beyond Cape Cod, in order to find\nthe wild grape. It grows in sheltered localities in Nova Scotia; and so\nin no degree conflicts with the later deductions based on the same\nastronomical evidence of the length of the shortest day, which have\ninduced subsequent investigators to adopt conclusions much more nearly\napproximating to those suggested by the poet Montgomery fully sixteen\nyears before the issue of Professor Rafn\u2019s learned quarto from the\nCopenhagen press.\n\nThe topographical details which have to be relied upon in any attempt to\nidentify the precise locality are little less vague than those of the\nastronomical data from which the editor of the _Antiquitates American\u00e6_\nassumed to compute his assigned latitude. The voyagers, after their\nfirst wintering, pursued their course southward; and again approaching\nthe shore, made their way up a river, to a lake from whence it flowed.\nThe land was wooded, with wild \u201cwheat\u201d in the low meadows, and on the\nhigh banks grape-bearing vines. The aspect of this strange land was\ntempting to voyagers from the north, so they erected booths, and\nwintered there. From the mouth of the St. Lawrence southward to Rhode\nIsland, the coast is indented with many an estuary, up any of which the\nold voyagers may have found their way into lake or expanded basin, with\noverhanging forest trees, meadow flats, and other features sufficiently\ncorresponding to all that we learn from the old Saga of the temporary\nsettlement of Thorfinn and his fellow-voyagers. Fresh claimants\naccordingly enter the lists to contend for the honours that pertain to\nthe landing-place of those first Pilgrim Fathers. New Englanders above\nall not unnaturally cherish the pleasant fancy that they had for their\nprecursors the hardy Vikings, who, resenting the oppression of King\nHarold the fair-haired, sailed into the unknown west to find a free home\nfor themselves. The fancy had a double claim on the gifted musician Ole\nBull. Himself a wanderer from the Scandinavian fatherland, he started\nthe proposition which was to give an air of indisputable reality to the\nold legend; and which culminated in the erection, on Boston Common, in\n1888, of a fine statue of Leif Ericson.\n\n\u201cSouth of Greenland is Helluland; next is Markland; from thence is not\nfar to Vinland the Good.\u201d So reads the old Saga; and with the rearing of\nthe statue of its finder, it seemed incumbent on some loyal son of the\nCommonwealth to demonstrate the site of the good land within the area of\nMassachusetts. In the following year, accordingly, Professor Eben Norton\nHorsford, of Cambridge, undertook the search, and was able to identify\nto his entire satisfaction the site of Leif\u2019s, or Karlsefne\u2019s booths, in\nhis own neighbourhood on the Charles river. First appeared in 1889 _The\nProblem of the Northmen_; and in the following year, in choicest\ntypography, and amplitude of attractive illustrations, _The Discovery of\nthe Ancient City of Norumbega, at Watertown on the River Charles_. There\nthe ephemeral booths of the old winterers in Vinland had left enduring\ntraces after a lapse of more than eight centuries. The discoverer,\nresolved to arrest \u201cTime\u2019s decaying fingers,\u201d which had thus far been\nlaid with such unwonted gentleness on the pioneer relics, has marked the\nspot with a memorial tower, and an elaborately inscribed tablet, one\nclause of which runs thus: \u201c=River, The Charles, discovered by Leif\nErikson 1000 a.d. Explored by Thorwald, Leif\u2019s Brother, 1003 a.d.\nColonised by Thorfinn Karlsefni 1007 a.d. First Bishop Erik Gnupson 1121\na.d.=\u201d\n\nThe entire evidence has been readduced with minutest critical accuracy\nin _The Finding of Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic\nDiscovery of America_, by the late gifted Arthur Middleton Reeves. His\nverdict is thus briefly stated: \u201cThere is no suggestion in Icelandic\nrecords of a permanent occupation of the county; and after the\nexploration at the beginning of the eleventh century, it is not known\nthat Wineland was ever again visited by Icelanders, although it would\nappear that a voyage thither was attempted in the year 1121, but with\nwhat result is not known.\u201d[6] In the Codex Frisianus is an apt heading\nwhich might, better than a more lengthy inscription, have given\nexpression to the pleasant fancy that the footprints of Leif Ericson\u2019s\nfollowers had been recovered on the banks of the Charles river, \u201cFUNDIT\nVINLAND GOTHA\u201d\u2014Vineland the Good found! Maps old and new illustrate the\ntopography of the newly-assigned site; and among the rest, one which\nspecially aims at reproducing the most definite feature of the old\nnarrative is thus titled:\u2014\u201cRiver flowing through a lake into the sea;\nVinland of the Northmen; site of Leif\u2019s houses.\u201d To his own\nsatisfaction, at least, it is manifest that the author has identified\nthe site.\n\nBut a great deal more than Leif\u2019s booths is involved. It is the\ndiscovery of the ancient city of Norumbega, of which also the inscribed\ntablet makes due record; including the statement, set forth more fully\nin the printed text, that the name is only an Indian transmutation of\n\u201cNorbega, the ancient form of Norvega, Norway, to which Vinland was\nsubject!\u201d The name, though probably unfamiliar to most modern readers,\nwas once as well known as that of Utopia, or El Dorado. One of Sir John\nHawkins\u2019 fellow-voyagers claimed to have seen the city of Norumbega\nstill standing in 1568: a gorgeous Indian town outvying the capital of\nMontezuma, and resplendent in pearls and gold. Hakluyt proposed its\nrecolonisation; Sir Humphrey Gilbert went in search of it; and it\nfigures both as a city and a country on maps familiar to older\ngenerations than the founders of New England. Above all, Milton has\ngiven it a place in the Tenth Book of his _Paradise Lost_. When the\nDivine Creator is represented as readapting this world to a fallen\nrace\u2014\n\n    Some say he bid his Angels turn askance\n    The poles of Earth twice ten degrees and more\n    From the sun\u2019s axle. . . . . . . . .\n    . . . . . Now from the north\n    Of Norumbega, and the Samoed shore,\n    Bursting their brazen dungeon, arm\u2019d with ice,\n    And snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw,\n    Boreas . . .\n\nwhich seems to imply very Icelandic and Arctic associations of the\nMiltonic muse. But the gentle New England poet, Whittier, who had sung\nof his Christian knight in vain quest of the marvellous city, thus\nwrites in sober prose to its modern discoverer: \u201cI had supposed that the\nfamed city of Norumbega was on the Penobscot when I wrote my poem some\nyears ago; but I am glad to think of it as on the Charles, in our own\nMassachusetts.\u201d This work of rearing anew on the banks of the river\nCharles the metropolis of Vinland the Good may be best entrusted to the\npoets of New England.\n\nAll praise is due to the enthusiastic editors of the _Antiquitates\nAmerican\u00e6_ for their reproduction of the original records on which the\nhistory and the legends of Vinland rest. They found only too willing\nrecipients of the theories and assumptions with which they supplemented\nthe genuine narrative; nor has the uncritical spirit of credulous\ndeduction wholly ceased. In the untimely death of Professor Munch, the\nhistorian of Norway, the University of Christiana lost a ripe and\nacutely critical scholar in the very flower of his years. But in Dr.\nGustav Storm a successor has been found not unworthy to fill his place,\nand represent the younger generation of Northern antiquaries, who have\nnow taken in hand, in a more critical spirit, yet with no less\nenthusiasm, the work so well begun by Rafn, Finn Magnusen, and\nSveinbiorn Egilsson. In the same year in which Leif Ericson\u2019s statue was\nset up in Boston, and all the old enthusiasm for the identification of\nthe lost Vinland was revived, there appeared in the _M\u00e9moires de la\nSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_ a series of _Studies on the\nVineland Voyages_, from the pen of Professor Storm, embodying a critical\nanalysis of the evidence relating to the Vinland voyages, which is\ntreated still more fully in his _Studier over Vinlandsreiserne, Vinlands\nGeografi og Ethnographi_. The whole is now available, along with\nvaluable additions, including photographic facsimiles illustrative of\nthe original MSS., in Reeves\u2019 _Finding of Wineland the Good_.[7] The\nevidence has to be gleaned from two independent series of narratives:\nthe one the Icelandic Sagas and other embodiments of the Vinland\ntradition; the other the more amplified, but less reliable narratives of\nNorwegian chroniclers. The earliest Icelandic accounts are derived\ndirectly or indirectly from Ari fro\u00f0i, more particularly referred to on\na later page, whose date as an author is given as about 1120; thereby\nmarking the transmission of the narrative to a younger generation before\nit was committed to writing. Ari fro\u00f0i, _i.e._ the learned, derived the\nstory from his paternal uncle Thorkell Gellisson of Helgufell, who lived\nin the latter half of the eleventh century; and so was a contemporary of\nAdam of Bremen, who, when resident at the Danish Court, about the year\n1070, obtained the information relating to the Northern regions which he\nembodied in his _Descriptio insularum aquilonis_. Ari\u2019s uncle, Thorkell,\nis said to have spoken, when in Greenland, with a man who, in the year\n985, had accompanied Erik the Red on his expedition from Iceland; so\nthat the authority is good, if the narrative were sufficiently ample;\nbut unfortunately, though Ari\u2019s notes of what he learned from his uncle\nare still extant in the _Libellus Islandorum_, they are exceedingly\nmeagre. The Vinland explorations had no such importance for the men of\nthat age as they possess for us, and are accordingly dealt with as a\nvery secondary matter. Professor Gustav Storm, in his _Studies on the\nVineland Voyages_, notes that Thorkell seems to have told his nephew\nmost about the colonisation of Greenland. In Professor Storm\u2019s\n_Studies_, and in the exhaustive _Finding of Wineland the Good_, by\nArthur Middleton Reeves, the entire bearings of the evidence, and the\nrelative value of the various ancient authorities, are discussed with\nminute care; and lead alike to the inevitable conclusion that any\nassignment of a site for the lost Vinland, either on Rhode Island, or on\nany part of the New England coast, is untenable. The deductions of\nProfessor Rafn from the same evidence were accepted as a final verdict,\nuntil the too eager confirmation of his Rhode Island correspondents\nbrought them into discredit. Now when we undertake an unbiassed review\nof them, it is manifest that too much weight has been attached to his\nestimate of distances measured by the vague standard of a day\u2019s sail of\na rude galley dependent on wind and tide. This Professor Rafn assumed as\nequivalent to twenty-four geographical miles. But very slight\nconsideration suffices to show that, with an indefinite starting-point,\nand only a vague indication of the direction of sailing, with the\nunknown influences of wind and tide, any such arbitrary deduction of a\ndefinite measurement from the log of the old Northmen is not only\nvalueless, but misleading.\n\nA reconsideration of the evidence furnished by the references to the\nfauna and flora of the different points touched at, shows that others of\nProfessor Rafn\u2019s deductions are equally open to correction. Helluland, a\nbarren region, of large stone slabs, with no other trace of life than\nthe Arctic fox, presented the same aspect as Labrador still offers to\nthe eye of the voyager. But there is no need to traverse the entire\nCanadian and New England coasts before a region can be found answering\nto the descriptions of a forest-clad country, of numerous deer, or even\nof the vine, as noted by the old explorers from Greenland. To the eye of\nthe Greenlander, the Markland, or forest-clad land, lay within sight no\nfarther south than Newfoundland or Cape Breton. To those who are\naccustomed to associate the vine with the Rhine land, or the plains of\nChampagne, it sounds equally extravagant to speak of the Maritime\nProvinces, or of the New England States, as \u201cVinland the Good.\u201d But\nnumerous allusions of voyagers and travellers of the sixteenth and\nseventeenth centuries refer with commendation to the wild grapes of\nNorth America. Jacques Cartier on making his way up the St. Lawrence, in\nhis second voyage, gave to the Isle of Orleans the name of the Isle de\nBacchus, because of the many wild vines found there; though he notes\nthat, \u201cnot being cultivated nor pruned, the grapes are neither so large\nnor so sweet as ours\u201d\u2014that is, those of France. Lescarbot, in like\nmanner, in 1606, records the grape vine as growing at Chuakouet, or\nSaco, in Maine, and in the following year they are noted as abundant\nalong the banks of the river St. John in New Brunswick.\n\nTo voyagers from Iceland or Greenland many portions of the coast of Nova\nScotia would present the aspect of a region clothed with forest, and, as\nsuch, \u201cextremely beautiful.\u201d Deer are still abundant both there and in\nNewfoundland; and as for the grapes gathered by Leif Ericson, or those\nbrought back to Thorvald by Hake and Hekia, the swift runners, at their\nmore northern place of landing, the wild vine is well known at the\npresent time in sheltered localities of Nova Scotia. Having therefore\ncarefully studied the earliest maps and charts, of which reduced copies\nare furnished in the _M\u00e9moires_, and reviewed the whole evidence with\nminute care, Professor Storm thus unhesitatingly states the results:\n\u201cKjalarnes, the northern extremity of Vinland, becomes Cape Breton\nIsland, specially described as low-lying and sandy. The fiord into which\nthe Northmen steered, on the country becoming _fjorthskorit_, _i.e._\n\u2018fiord-indented,\u2019 may have been one of the bays of Guysborough, the\ncounty of Nova Scotia lying farthest to the north-east; possibly indeed\nCanso Bay, or some one of the bays south of it. Therefore much further\nto the south in Nova Scotia must we seek the mouth of the river where\nKarlsefn made his abortive attempt at colonisation. . . . The west coast\nof northern Vinland is characterised as a region of uninhabited forest\ntracks, with few open spots, a statement admirably agreeing with the\ntopographical conditions distinguishing the west coast of Cape Breton\nIsland, which in a modern book of travels is spoken of as \u2018an unexplored\nand trackless land of forests and mountains.\u2019 Hence to the south of this\nregion search has to be made for the mouth of the streamlet where\nThorvald Eriksson was killed.\u201d Various points, accordingly, such as\nSalmon river, or one of the rivers flowing into Pictou harbour, are\nsuggested as furnishing features of resemblance and inviting to further\nresearch.\n\nHere, then, is the same problem submitted to the historical antiquaries\nof Nova Scotia which those of Rhode Island took up upwards of half a\ncentury ago, with unbounded zeal, and very surprising results. Nor is\nthere a \u201cDighton Rock\u201d wanting; for Nova Scotia has its inscribed stone,\nalready interpreted as graphic runes, replete with equally suggestive\ntraces of the Northmen of the tenth century. The inscribed rock at\nYarmouth has long been an object of curious interest. So far back as\n1857 I received from Dr. J. G. Farish a full-sized copy of the\ninscription, with the following account of it: \u201cThe inscription, of\nwhich the accompanying sketch is an exact copy,\n\n[Illustration: Inscription, Yarmouth Rock, Nova Scotia.]\n\nwas discovered forty-five years ago, at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The rock\non which the characters are engraved is about two feet in diameter, of\nan irregular hemispherical shape, with one naturally smooth surface. It\nlies on the shore of a small inlet, at high-water mark, and close to the\nbank, on which it may formerly have rested. The stone has been split\nwhere a very thin vein of quartz once traversed it, but the\ncorresponding half could never be found. The tracing has been done with\na sharp-pointed instrument carried onward, by successive blows of a\nhammer or mallet, the effect of which is plainly visible. The point of\nthe instrument barely penetrated the layer of quartz, which is almost as\nthin as the black marks of the sketch. The inscription has been shown to\nseveral learned gentlemen,\u2014one intimately acquainted with the\ncharacters of the Micmac and Millicet Indians who once inhabited this\ncountry; another, familiar with the Icelandic and other Scandinavian\nlanguages; but no person has yet been able to decipher it.\u201d Again, in\n1880, I received from Mr. J. Y. Bulmer, Secretary of the Nova Scotia\nHistorical Society, a photograph of the Yarmouth rock, with an\naccompanying letter, in which he remarks: \u201cI am directed by the council\nof the Nova Scotia Historical Society to forward to you a photographic\nview of a stone found near the ocean, in Yarmouth county, N.S., and\nhaving an inscription which, if not runic or Ph\u0153nician, is supposed by\nmany to be the work of man. As ancient remains are most likely to be\npreserved by calling attention to all such works and inscriptions, we\nthought it best to forward it to you, where it could be examined by\nyourself and others likely to detect a fraud, or translate an\ninscription. The stone is now\u2014or was one hundred years ago,\u2014near, or\nin fact on, the edge of the sea. It has since been removed to Yarmouth\nfor preservation. It was found near Cape Sable, a cape that must have\nbeen visited by nearly every navigator, whether ancient or modern.\u201d\n\nThe earlier description of Dr. Farish is valuable, as it preserves an\naccount of the rock while it still occupied its original site. He\nspeaks, moreover, definitely as to the period when it first attracted\nattention; and which, though more recent than the \u201cone hundred years\u201d of\nmy later correspondent, or a nearly equivalent statement in the\n_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, that \u201cit has been\nknown for nearly an hundred years,\u201d is sufficiently remote to remove all\nidea of fraud, at least by any person of the present generation. The\ndescription given by Dr. Farish of the apparent execution of the\ninscription by means of a sharp-pointed instrument\u2014meaning thereby no\ndoubt a metallic tool,\u2014and a hammer or mallet, clearly points to other\nthan native Indian workmanship, whatever may have been the date of its\nexecution. As will be seen from the accompanying copy, it is in\narbitrary linear characters bearing no resemblance to the abbreviated\nsymbols familiar to us in Indian epigraphy; and at the same time it may\nbe described as unique in character. Having been known to people\nresident in its vicinity for many years before the attention of students\nof the early monuments of the continent was invited to it, it appears to\nbe beyond suspicion of purposed fraud. I did not attempt any solution of\nthe enigma thus repeatedly submitted to my consideration; but it was\nthis graven stone that was referred to when, in the inaugural address to\nthe section of History and Arch\u00e6ology of the Royal Society of Canada, in\n1882, the remark was made: \u201cI know of but one inscription in Canada\nwhich seems to suggest the possibility of a genuine native record.\u201d\n\nOn nearly every recurrence of an inscription in any linear form of\nalphabetic character brought to light in the western hemisphere, the\nfirst idea has been to suggest a Ph\u0153nician origin; and this is, no\ndoubt, implied in the statement of its runic decipherer, in the\n_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, that \u201cthe glyphs\nhave been at various times copied and sent abroad to men of learning who\nhave made more or less attempts at deciphering them, more than one\nsavant seeing traces of Semitic origin.\u201d But latterly with the reported\ndiscovery of any linear inscription on the eastern seaboard, the\ntemptation has been to refer it to the Northmen of the eleventh century.\nTo this accordingly the allusions of both of my Nova-Scotian\ncorrespondents pointed. But the characters of the Scandinavian futhork\nare sufficiently definite to satisfy any one familiar with Scottish and\nManx runic inscriptions, or with Professor George Stephens\u2019 ample\nillustrations of them as they are found in the native home of the\nNorthmen, that it is vain to look to either for a key to the graven\nlegend on the Yarmouth rock. The presence of the Northmen, not only in\nIceland and Greenland, but as transient visitors on some portion of the\nNorth American mainland, now rests on satisfactory historical evidence.\nIn Greenland they left indisputable literate records of their\ncolonisation of the region to which they gave the inapt name it still\nretains. The runic inscriptions brought to Copenhagen in 1831 not only\ndetermine the sites of settlements effected by the companions and\nsuccessors of Eric, but they serve to show the kind of evidence to be\nlooked for, alike to the north and the south of the St. Lawrence, if any\ntraces yet survive of their having attempted to colonise the old\nMarkland and Vinland, whether the latter is recovered in Nova Scotia or\nNew England. Their genuine memorials are not less definite than those\nleft by the Romans in Gaul or Britain; and corresponding traces of them\nin the assumed Vinland, and elsewhere in the United States, have been\nperseveringly, but vainly, sought for. One unmistakably definite\nScandinavian inscription, that of the \u201cHuid\u0153rk,\u201d professedly found on\nthe river Potomac, does not lay claim to serious criticism. It was\naffirmed to have been discovered in 1867 graven on a rock on the banks\nof the Potomac; but to any student familiar with the genuine examples\nfigured in the _Antiquitates American\u00e6_, it will be readily recognised\nas a clever hoax, fabricated by the correspondent of the _Washington\nUnion_ out of genuine Greenland inscriptions. It reads thus: =hir\nhuilir syasy fagrharrdr avstfirthingr iki a kildi systr thorg samfethra\nhalfthritgr gleda gvd sal henar=. To this are added certain\nsymbols, suggested it may be presumed by the Kingiktorsoak inscription,\nfrom which the translator professes to derive the date A.D. 1051.\n\nIn the interval between the dates of the two communications previously\nreferred to, a rubbing of the inscription on the Yarmouth rock was\nforwarded to Mr. Henry Phillips jr., of Philadelphia. It appears to have\nbeen under consideration by him at intervals for nine years, when at\nlength it was made the subject of a paper read before the American\nPhilosophical Society, and printed in its _Proceedings_ in 1884. After a\ndescription of the locality, and the discovery of the inscribed stone on\nits original site, \u201cabout the end of the last century, by a man named\nFletcher,\u201d Mr. Phillips states the reasons which sufficed to satisfy him\nthat the inscription is a genuine one. He then proceeds thus: \u201cHaving\nbecome imbued with a belief that no deception was intended, or\npractised, I entered upon the study of the markings with a mind totally\nand entirely free from prejudice. So far from believing that the\ninscription was a relic of the pre-Columbian discovery of America, I had\nnever given any credence to that theory.\u201d Thus, not only entirely\nunbiassed, but, as he says, \u201csomewhat prejudiced against the\nauthenticity of any inscription on this continent purporting to emanate\nfrom the hardy and intrepid Norsemen,\u201d he proceeded to grapple with the\nstrange characters. \u201cAs in a kaleidoscope, word after word appeared in\ndisjointed form, and each was in turn rejected, until at last an\nintelligible word came forth, followed by another and another, until a\nreal sentence with a meaning stood forth to my astonished gaze:\n_Harkussen men varu_\u2014Hako\u2019s son addressed the men.\u201d On reverting to the\nold Vinland narrative this seemed all unexpectedly to tally with it, for\nMr. Phillips found that in the expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefne, in\n1007, one named Haki occurs among those who accompanied him. Still more\nnoteworthy, as it appears, though overlooked by him, this oldest record\nof a European visitor to the Nova-Scotian shores, if actually referable\nto Hake, the fellow-voyager of Thorfinn, was no Northman, but a Scot!\nFor Thorfinn himself, the old Saga, as reproduced in the _Antiquitates\nAmerican\u00e6_, claims a comprehensive genealogy in which his own Scottish\nancestry is not overlooked. In the summer of 1006, according to the\nnarrative of the \u201csettlement effected in Vinland by Thorfinn,\u201d \u201cthere\narrived in Greenland two ships from Iceland; the one was commanded by\nThorfinn, having the very significant surname of Karlsefn (_i.e._ who\npromises, or is destined to be an able or great man), a wealthy and\npowerful man, of illustrious lineage, and sprung from Danish, Norwegian,\nSwedish, Irish and Scottish ancestors, some of whom were kings of royal\ndescent. He was accompanied by Snorre Thorbrandson, who was also a man\nof distinguished lineage. The other ship was commanded by Bjarne\nGrimolfson, of Breidefiord, and Thorhall Gamlison, of Austfiord. They\nkept the festival of Yule at Brattalid. Thorfinn became enamoured of\nGudrida, and obtained the consent of her brother-in-law, Leif, and their\nmarriage was celebrated during the winter. On this, as on former\noccasions, the voyage to Vinland formed a favourite theme of\nconversation, and Thorfinn was urged both by his wife and others to\nundertake such a voyage. It was accordingly resolved on in the spring of\n1007.\u201d This later narrative distinctly sets forth an organised scheme of\npermanent settlement in the tempting land of the vine. Thorvald, who was\nin command of one of the three ships fitted out for the expedition, was\nmarried to Freydisa, a natural daughter of Eric the Red. \u201cOn board this\nship was also a man of the name of Thorhall, who had long served Eric as\na huntsman in summer, and as house-steward in winter, and who had much\nacquaintance with the uncolonised parts of Greenland. They had in all\n160 men. They took with them all kinds of live stock, it being their\nintention to establish a colony, if possible.\u201d Then follows the notice\nof their observations of the characteristic features, and of the fauna\nand flora of Helluland, Markland, and subsequent points; to the last of\nwhich, characterised by \u201ctrackless deserts and long beaches with sands,\u201d\nthey gave the name of Furdustrandir. After passing this, the\ncharacteristic feature is noted that the land began to be indented by\ninlets, or bays. Then follows the notice of Hake, the Scot, to whom Mr.\nPhillips conceives the Yarmouth inscription may be due. The reference,\naccordingly, with its accompanying description of the country, has a\nspecial claim to notice here. \u201cThey had,\u201d says the Saga, \u201ctwo Scots with\nthem, Haki and Hekia, whom Leif had formerly received from the Norwegian\nKing, Olaf Tryggvason,\u201d it may be assumed as slaves carried off in some\nmarauding expedition to the British Islands. The two Scots, man and\nwoman, it is added, \u201cwere very swift of foot. They put them on shore\nrecommending them to proceed in a south-west direction, and explore the\ncountry. After the lapse of three days they returned, bringing with them\nsome grapes and ears of wheat, which grew wild in that region. They\ncontinued their course until they came to a place where the firth\npenetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it was an island past\nwhich there ran strong currents, which was also the case further up the\nfirth. On the island there was an immense number of eider ducks, so that\nit was scarcely possible to walk without treading on their eggs. They\ncalled the island Straumey (Stream Isle), and the firth Straumfiordr\n(Stream Firth). They landed on the shore of this firth, and made\npreparations for their winter residence. The country was extremely\nbeautiful,\u201d as we may readily imagine a sheltered nook of Nova Scotia to\nhave appeared to voyagers fresh from Iceland and the Greenland shores.\nIt may be well to note here that the incident of the discovery of the\nvine and the gathering of grapes reappears in different narratives under\nvarying forms. It was a feature to be specially looked for by all later\nvoyagers in search of the Vinland of the first expedition, that set out\nin search for the southern lands of which Bjarni Herjulfson is reported\nto have brought back an account to Greenland. Nor is the discovery of\nthe vine by successive explorers along the American seaboard in any\ndegree improbable, though it can scarcely be doubted that some of the\nlater accounts are mere amplifications of the original narrative. It is,\nat any rate, to be noted that the scene of Haki the Scot\u2019s discovery,\nwas not the H\u00f3p, identified by the Rhode Island Historical Society with\ntheir own Mount Hope Bay. As for Thorhall and his shipmates, they turned\nback, northward, in search of Vinland, and so deserted their\nfellow-voyagers before the scene of attempted colonisation was reached,\nand were ultimately reported to have been wrecked on the Irish coast.\n\nSuch is the episode in the narrative of ancient explorations of the\nNorth American shores by voyagers from Greenland, in which Mr. Phillips\nwas gratified by the startling conformity, as it seemed to him, of the\nname of Haki, with the Harkussen of his runes; though, it must be\nadmitted, the identity is far from complete. If, however, there were no\ndoubt as to the inscription being a genuine example of Northern runes,\nthe failure to refer them to Hake, or any other specific member of an\nexploring party, would be of little moment. Here, at any rate, was\nevidence which, if rightly interpreted, was calculated to suggest a\nreconsideration of the old localisation of Vinland in the state of Rhode\nIsland; and to this other evidence pointed even more clearly. Reassured,\naccordingly, by a study of the map, which shows the comparatively\ntrifling distance traversed by the assumed voyagers from Greenland, when\ncompared with that from their remote European fatherland, Mr. Phillips\nsubmitted his interpretation to the American Philosophical Society \u201cas\nworthy of consideration, if not absolutely convincing.\u201d To the\ntopographer of the maritime coasts of Canada, a genuine runic\ninscription which proved that Norse voyagers from Greenland did actually\nland on the shores of Nova Scotia, in A.D. 1007, and leave there a\nliterate record of their visit, would be peculiarly acceptable. But\nwhatever be the significance of the Yarmouth inscription, it fails to\nsatisfy such requirements. It neither accords with the style, or usual\nformula of runic inscriptions; nor, as will be seen from the\naccompanying facsimile, is it graven in any variation of the familiar\ncharacters of the Scandinavian futhork. The fascinating temptation has\nto be set aside; and the Hake or Harkussen of its modern interpreter\nmust take rank with the illusory Thorfinn discovered by the Rhode Island\nantiquaries on their famed Dighton Rock, which still stands by the banks\nof the Taunton river.\n\nIt is indeed vain for us to hope for evidence of the same definite kind\nas that which establishes beyond question the presence of the Northmen\non the sites of their long-settled colonies in Greenland. Their visits\nto the Canadian seaboard were transitory; and any attempt at settlement\nthere failed. Yet without the definite memorials of the old Norse\ncolonists recovered in the present century on the sites of their\nGreenland settlements, it would probably have proved vain to identify\nthem now. The coast of Nova Scotia is indented with inlets, and\nestuaries of creeks and rivers, suggesting some vague resemblance to the\nH\u00f3p, or creek of the old Sagas. Whether any one of them presents\nadequate features for identification with the descriptions furnished in\ntheir accounts has yet to be ascertained. But there is every motive to\nstimulate us to a careful survey of the coast in search of any probable\nsite of the Vinland of the old Northmen. Slight as are the details\navailable for such a purpose, they are not without some specific\ndefiniteness, which the Rhode Island antiquaries turned to account, not\nwithout a warning to us in their too confident assumption of results.\nDr. E. B. Tylor, in his address to the section of anthropology at the\nMontreal meeting of the British Association, after referring to the\nIcelandic records of the explorations of the hardy sea-rovers from\nGreenland, as too consistent to be refused belief as to the main facts,\nthus proceeded: \u201cThey sailed some way down the American coast. But where\nare we to look for the most southerly points which the Sagas mention as\nreached in Vineland? Where was Keel-ness where Thorvald\u2019s ship ran\naground, and Cross-ness where he was buried when he died by the\nSkr\u00e6ling\u2019s arrow? Rafn, in the _Antiquitates American\u00e6_, confidently\nmaps out these places about the promontory of Cape Cod, in\nMassachusetts, and this has been repeated since from book to book. I\nmust plead guilty to having cited Rafn\u2019s map before now, but when with\nreference to the present meeting I consulted our learned editor of\nScandinavian records at Oxford, Mr. Gudbrand Vigfusson, and afterwards\nwent through the original passages in the Sagas with Mr. York Powell, I\nam bound to say that the voyages of the Northmen ought to be reduced to\nmore moderate limits. It appears that they crossed from Greenland to\nLabrador (Helluland), and thence sailing more or less south and west, in\ntwo stretches of two days each, they came to a place near where wild\ngrapes grew, whence they called the country Vineland. This would,\ntherefore, seem to have been somewhere about the Gulf of St. Lawrence,\nand it would be an interesting object for a yachting cruise to try down\nfrom the east coast of Labrador a fair four days\u2019 sail of a Viking ship,\nand identify, if possible, the sound between the island and the ness,\nthe river running out of the lake into the sea, the long stretches of\nsand, and the other local features mentioned in the Sagas.\u201d A fresh\nstimulus is thus furnished to Canadian yachtsmen to combine historical\nexploration with a summer\u2019s coasting trip, and go in search of the lost\nVinland. The description of the locality that furnished the data from\nwhich the members of the Rhode Island Historical Society satisfied\nthemselves as to the identity of their more southern site on the\nPacasset river, has to be kept in view in any renewed inquiry. At the\nsame time it must not be overlooked that the oldest and most trustworthy\nnarrative, in the Saga of Eric the Red, with the credited, and probably\ngenuine story of the voyage of Karlsefne, are expanded, in the\nGr\u00e6nlendingath\u00e0ttr, into five voyages, with their incidents recast with\nmodifications and additions. The expedition of Leif Ericson, and his\naccidental discovery of Vinland, and the subsequent attempt at\ncolonisation of Karlsefne, in company with Thorvald and Freydisa, are\nthe only adventures accredited by the oldest tradition. In the latter\nnarrative it is stated that \u201cthey sailed for a long time, until they\ncame at last to a river which flowed down from the land into a lake, and\nso into the sea. There were great bars at the mouth of the river, so\nthat it could only be entered at the height of the flood tide. Karlsefn\nand his men sailed into the mouth of the river, and called it H\u00f3p,\u201d\n_i.e._ a land-locked bay. \u201cThey found self-sown wheat fields wherever\nthere were hollows, and where there was hilly ground there were vines.\u201d\nSubsequent descriptions are obviously based on this account. But to\nwhatever extent the description of the locality where Thorvald, the\nbrother of Leif Ericson, was killed by a Skr\u00e6ling may have been\nsuggested by that narrative, the localities are different. It was\napparently in the spring of A.D. 1004 that Karlsefne set out on his\ncolonising expedition. The voyagers sailed along Furdustrandir, a long,\nlow sandy coast, till they came to where the land was indented with\ncreeks and inlets. There they steered into the Straumsfjord, to a spot\nwhere Karlsefne and his companions spent the winter of A.D. 1005; and\nwhere, therefore, we may assume the observations to have been made that\ndetermined the length of the day in Vinland at the winter solstice. The\nnarrative of noteworthy incidents is accompanied with topographical\ndetails that have to be kept in view in any attempt at recovering traces\nof the locality. There, if it could be identified, we have to look for a\npromontory answering to the Krossanes, or promontory of the crosses: the\nspot where Thorvald was buried; and as would seem to be implied, where a\ncross was set up at the grave mound. The style of such a sepulchral\nmemorial of the Northmen at a little later date is very familiar to us.\nThe discovery on some hitherto unheeded spot of the Nova-Scotian coast\nof a bautastein, graven like those recovered on the sites of the old\nGreenland colony, would be an invaluable historical record. It might be\nexpected to read somewhat in this fashion: _Leif sunr Erikr rautha\nraisti krus thana eftir Thorvald brothur sina_. But there is slight\nground for imagining that the transient visitors from Greenland to the\nCanadian shores left any more lasting memorial of the tragic event that\nreappears in successive versions of the narrative of their presence\nthere, than a wooden grave-post, or uninscribed headstone.\n\nOne other element in the characteristic features of the strange land\nvisited by the Greenland explorers is the native population, and this\nhas a specific interest in other respects, in addition to its bearing on\nthe determination of a Nova-Scotian site for \u201cVineland the Good.\u201d They\nare designated Skr\u00e6lings (Skr\u00e6lingjar), and as in this the Greenland\nvoyagers applied the same name to the natives of Vinland as to the\nGreenland Eskimo, it has been assumed that both were of the same race.\nBut the term \u201cskr\u00e6ling\u201d is still used in Norway to express the idea of\ndecrepitude, or physical inferiority; and probably was used with no more\ndefinite significance than our own word \u201csavage.\u201d The account given in\nthe Saga of the approach of the Skr\u00e6lings would sufficiently accord with\nthat of a Micmac flotilla of canoes. Their first appearance is thus\ndescribed: \u201cWhile looking about one morning, they observed a great\nnumber of canoes. On exhibiting friendly signals the canoes approached\nnearer to them, and the natives in them looked with astonishment at\nthose they met there. These people were sallow-coloured and ill-looking,\nhad ugly heads of hair, large eyes and broad cheeks.\u201d The term\n_skr\u00e6ling_ has usually been interpreted \u201cdwarf,\u201d and so seemed to\nconfirm the idea of the natives having been Eskimo; but, as already\nstated, the word, as still used in Norway, might mean no more than the\ninferiority of any savage race. As to the description of their features\nand complexion, that would apply equally well to the red Indian or the\nEskimo, and so far as the eyes are spoken of, rather to the former than\nthe latter. More importance may be attached to the term _hudhkeipr_\napplied to their canoes, which is more applicable to the kayak, or\nskin-boat, than to the birch-bark canoe of the Indian; but the word was\nprobably loosely used as applicable to any savage substitute for a keel,\nor built boat.\n\nThis question of the identification of the Skr\u00e6lings, or natives,\nwhether of Nova Scotia or New England, is one of considerable\nethnographic significance. The speculations relative to the possible\nrelationship of the Eskimo to the post-glacial cave-dwellers of the\nDordogne valley, and their consequent direct descent from pal\u00e6olithic\nEuropean man, confer a value on any definite evidence bearing on their\nmovements in intermediate centuries. On the other hand, the approximate\ncorrespondence of the Huron-Iroquois of Canada and the state of New York\nto the Eskimo in the dolichocephalic type of skull common to both, gives\nan interest to any evidence of the early presence of the latter to the\nsouth of the St. Lawrence. In their western migrations the Eskimo\nattract the attention of the ethnographer as the one definite ethnic\nlink between America and Asia. They are met with, as detached and\nwandering tribes, across the whole continent, from Greenland to Behring\nStrait. Nevertheless, they appear to be the occupants of a diminishing\nrather than an expanding area. This would accord with the idea of their\narea extending over the Canadian maritime provinces, and along the New\nEngland coast, in the eleventh century; and possibly as indicating the\nearly home, from which they were being driven northward by the\nHuron-Iroquois or other assailants, rather than implying an overflow\nfrom their Arctic habitat. Seal hunting on the coast of Newfoundland,\nand fishing on its banks and along the shores of Nova Scotia, would even\nnow involve no radical change in the habits of the Eskimo. It was with\nthis hyperborean race that the Scandinavian colonists of Greenland came\nin contact 800 years ago, and by them that they were exterminated at a\nlater date. If it could be proved that the Skr\u00e6lings of the eleventh\ncentury, found by the Northmen on the American mainland, were Eskimo, it\nwould furnish the most conclusive evidence that the red Indians\u2014whether\nMicmac, Millicet, or Hurons,\u2014are recent intruders there.\n\nIn any process of aggression of the native American race on the older\narea of the Eskimo, some intermixture of blood would naturally follow.\nThe slaughter of the males in battle, and the capture of women and\nchildren, everywhere leads to a like result; and this seems the simplest\nsolution of the problem of the southern brachycephalic, and the northern\ndolichocephalic type of head among native American races. When the sites\nof the ancient colonies of Greenland were rediscovered and visited by\nthe Danes, they imagined they could recognise in the physiognomy of some\nof the Eskimo who still people the shores of Davis Straits, traces of\nadmixture between the old native and the Scandinavian or Icelandic\nblood. Of the Greenland colonies the Eskimo had perpetuated many\ntraditions, referring to the colonists under the native name of\n_Kablunet_. But of the language that had been spoken among them for\ncenturies, the fact is highly significant that the word _Kona_, used by\nthem as a synonym for woman, is the only clearly recognised trace. This\nis worthy of note, in considering the distinctive character of the\nEskimo language, and its comparison with the Indian languages of the\nNorth American continent. It has the feature common to nearly all the\nnative languages of the continent north of the Mexican Gulf in the\ncomposite character of its words; so that an Eskimo verb may furnish the\nequivalent to a whole sentence in other tongues. But what is specially\nnoteworthy is that, while the Huron-Iroquois, the Algonkin, and other\nIndian families of languages have multiplied widely dissimilar dialects,\nDr. Henry Rink has shown that the Eskimo dialects of Greenland or\nLabrador differ slightly from those of Behring Strait; and the congeners\nof the American Eskimo, who have overflowed into the Aleutian Islands,\nand taken possession of the north-eastern region of Asia, perpetuate\nthere nearly allied dialects of the parent tongue.[8] The Alaskan and\nthe Tshugazzi peninsulas are in part peopled by Eskimo; the Konegan of\nKudjak Island belong to the same stock; and all the dialects spoken in\nthe Aleutian Islands, the supposed highway from Asia to America, betray\nin like manner the closest affinities to the Arctic Mongolid\u00e6 of the New\nWorld. They thus appear not only to be contributions from the New World\nto the Old, but to be of recent introduction there. If the cave-dwellers\nof Europe\u2019s pal\u00e6olithic era found their way as has been suggested, in\nsome vastly remote age, either by an eastern or a western route to the\nlater home of the Arctic Eskimo, it is in comparatively modern centuries\nthat the tide of migration has set westward across the Behring Strait,\nand by the Aleutian Islands, into Asia.\n\nThe reference to the Skr\u00e6lings in the first friendly intercourse of\nThorfinn Karlsefne and his companions with the natives, and their\nsubsequent hostile attitude, ending in the death of Thorvald Ericson,\nhas given occasion to this digression. But the question thus suggested\nis one of no secondary interest. If we could certainly determine their\nethnical character the fact would be of great significance; and coupled\nwith any well-grounded determination of the locality where the fatal\nincident occurred, would have important bearings on American ethnology.\nThe description of the sallow, or more correctly, swarthy coloured,\nnatives with large eyes, broad cheek-bones, shaggy hair, and forbidding\ncountenances is furnished in the Saga, and then the narrative thus\nproceeds: \u201cAfter the Skr\u00e6lings had gazed at them for a while, they rowed\naway again to the south-west past the cape. Karlsefne and his company\nhad erected their dwelling-houses a little above the bay, and there they\nspent the winter. No snow fell, and the cattle found their food in the\nopen field. One morning early, in the beginning of 1008, they descried a\nnumber of canoes coming from the south-west past the cape. Karlsefne\nhaving held up the white shield as a friendly signal, they drew nigh and\nimmediately commenced bartering. These people chose in preference red\ncloth, and gave furs and squirrel skins in exchange. They would fain\nalso have bought swords and spears, but these Karlsefne and Snorre\nprohibited their people from selling to them. In exchange for a skin\nentirely gray the Skr\u00e6lings took a piece of cloth of a span in breadth,\nand bound it round their heads. Their barter was carried on in this way\nfor some time. The Northmen then found that their cloth was beginning to\ngrow scarce, whereupon they cut it up in smaller pieces, not broader\nthan a finger\u2019s breadth, yet the Skr\u00e6lings gave as much for these\nsmaller pieces as they had formerly given for the larger ones, or even\nmore. Karlsefne also caused the women to bear out milk soup, and the\nSkr\u00e6lings relishing the taste of it, they desired to buy it in\npreference to everything else, so they wound up their traffic by\ncarrying away their bargains in their bellies. Whilst this traffic was\ngoing on it happened that a bull, which Karlsefne had brought along with\nhim, came out of the wood and bellowed loudly. At this the Skr\u00e6lings got\nterrified and rushed to their canoes, and rowed away southwards. About\nthis time Gudrida, Karlsefne\u2019s wife, gave birth to a son, who received\nthe name of Snorre. In the beginning of the following winter the\nSkr\u00e6lings came again in much greater numbers; they showed symptoms of\nhostility, setting up loud yells. Karlsefne caused the red shield to be\nborne against them, whereupon they advanced against each other, and a\nbattle commenced. There was a galling discharge of missiles. The\nSkr\u00e6lings had a sort of war sling. They elevated on a pole a\ntremendously large ball, almost the size of a sheep\u2019s stomach, and of a\nbluish colour; this they swung from the pole over Karlsefne\u2019s people,\nand it descended with a fearful crash. This struck terror into the\nNorthmen, and they fled along the river.\u201d\n\nIt was thus apparent that in spite of the attractions of the forest-clad\nland, with its tempting vines, there was little prospect of peaceful\npossession. The experience of these first colonisers differed in no\ndegree from that of the later pioneers of Nova Scotia or New England.\nFreydisa, the natural daughter of Eric, whom Thorvald had wedded, is\ndescribed as taunting the men for their cowardice in giving way before\nsuch miserable caitiffs as the Skr\u00e6lings or savage natives, and vowing,\nif she had only a weapon, she would show better fight. \u201cShe accordingly\nfollowed them into the wood. There she encountered a dead body. It was\nThorbrand Snorrason. A flat stone was sticking fast in his head. His\nnaked sword lay by his side. This she took up, and prepared to defend\nherself. She uncovered her breasts and dashed them against the naked\nsword. At this sight the Skr\u00e6lings became terrified, and ran off to\ntheir canoes. Karlsefne and the rest now came up to her and praised her\ncourage. But Karlsefne and his people became aware that, although the\ncountry held out many advantages, still the life that they would have to\nlead here would be one of constant alarm from the hostile attacks of the\nnatives. They therefore made preparations for departure with the\nresolution of returning to their own country.\u201d To us the attractions of\na Nova-Scotian settlement might seem worth encountering a good many such\nassaults rather than retreat to the ice-bound shores of Greenland. But\nit was \u201ctheir own country\u201d; their relatives were there. Nor to the hardy\nNorthmen did its climate, or that of Iceland, present the forbidding\naspect which it would to us. So they returned to Brattalid, carrying\nback with them an evil report of the land; and, as it seems, also\nbringing with them specimens of its natives. For, on their homeward\nvoyage, they proceeded round Kialarnes, and then were driven to the\nnort-west. \u201cThe land lay to larboard of them. There were thick forests\nin all directions as far as they could see, with scarcely any open\nspace. They considered the hills at Hope and those which they now saw as\nforming part of one continuous range. They spent the third winter at\nStreamfirth. Karlsefne\u2019s son Snorre was now three years of age. When\nthey sailed from Vinland they had southerly wind, and came to Markland,\nwhere they met with five Skr\u00e6lings. They caught two of them (two boys),\nwhom they carried away along with them, and taught them the Norse\nlanguage, and baptized them; these children said that their mother was\ncalled Vethilldi and their father Uvaege. They said that the Skr\u00e6lings\nwere ruled by chieftains (kings), one of whom was called Avalldamon, and\nthe other Valdidida; that there were no houses in the country, but that\nthe people dwelled in holes and caverns.\u201d\n\nThus ended the abortive enterprise of Thorfinn and his company to found,\nin the eleventh century, a colony of Northmen on the American mainland.\nThe account the survivors brought back told indeed of umbrageous\nwoodland and the tempting vine. But the forest was haunted by the fierce\nSkr\u00e6lings, and its coasts open to assault from their canoes. To the race\nthat wrested Normandy from the Carlovingian Frank, and established its\njarldoms in Orkney, Caithness, and Northumbria, such a foe might well be\ndeemed contemptible. But the degenerate Franks, and the Angles of\nNorthumbria, tempted the Norse marauder with costly spoils; and only\nafter repeated successful expeditions awakened the desire to settle in\nthe land and make there new homes. Alike to explorers seeking for\nthemselves a home, and to adventurers coveting the victors\u2019 spoils, the\nVinland of the Northmen offered no adequate temptation, and so its\ntraditions faded out of memory, or were recalled only as the legend of a\nfabulous age. At the meeting of the British Association at Montreal in\n1884 Mr. R. G. Halliburton read a paper entitled \u201cA Search in British\nNorth America for lost Colonies of Northmen and Portuguese.\u201d Documents\nwere quoted by him showing that from A.D. 1500 to 1570 commissions were\nregularly issued to the Corte Reals and their successors. Cape Breton\nwas colonised by them in 1521; and when Portugal became annexed to Spain\nin 1680, and Terra Nova passed with it to her rule, she sent colonists\nto settle there. The site which they occupied, Mr. Halliburton traced to\nSpanish Harbour (Sydney), Cape Breton, and this he claimed to be the\nearliest European settlement in North America. For, as for the\nNorthmen\u2019s reputed explorations and attempt at settlement, his verdict\nis thus briefly summed up: \u201cWhen we can discover Greenland\u2019s verdant\nmountains we can also hope to find the vine-clad hills of Vineland the\nGood.\u201d That, however, is too summary a dismissal of evidence which, if\nvague, is to every appearance based on authorities as seemingly\nauthentic and trustworthy as those on which many details of the history\nof early centuries rest. It would manifestly be unwise to discountenance\nfurther inquiry by any such sweeping scepticism, or to discourage the\nhope that local research may yet be rewarded by evidence confirmatory of\nthe reputed visit of Thorfinn and his fellow-explorers to some\nrecognisable point on the Nova-Scotian coast.\n\nThe diligent research of scholars familiar with the Old Norse, in which\nthe Sagas are written, is now clearing this inquiry into reputed\npre-Columbian discovery and colonisation of much misapprehension. The\nextravagant assumptions alike of earlier Danish and New England\nantiquaries in dealing with the question were provocative of an undue\nbias of critical scepticism. The American historian Bancroft gave form\nto this tendency when he affirmed that \u201cthe story of the colonisation of\nAmerica by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in form and obscure\nin meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary.\u201d If the historian had adduced\nin evidence of this the story of the Eyrbyggja Saga, and the later\namplifications of reputed voyages to \u201cWhite Man\u2019s Land,\u201d and to\n\u201cNewland,\u201d his language would have been pardonable. Of the later\nfictitious Sagas are the Landv\u00e6tta-s\u00f6gur; Stories of the\nguardian-spirits of the land; and the Saga of Halfdan Eysteinsson, from\nwhich we learn that \u201cRaknar brought the deserts of Heluland under his\nrule, and destroyed all the giants there\u201d; or again we have the Saga of\n\u201cBarthar Sn\u00e6fellsass,\u201d or the Snow-fell God, and the King Dumbr of\nDumbshaf. But all such mythical Sagas belong to later Icelandic and\nNorwegian literature, and have no claim to historical value.\n\nThe genuine documentary evidence of Vinland is recoverable from\nmanuscripts of earlier date, and a widely different character. Had\nBancroft been familiar with the early Icelandic Sagas he could never\nhave spoken of them as mythological. They are, on the contrary,\ndistinguished by their presentation of events in an extremely simple and\nliteral manner; equally free from rhetorical embellishment and the\nextravagances of the romancer. But the occupation of the new-found land\nwas brief; and as the tale of its explorers faded from the memory of\nyounger generations, fancy toyed with the legend of a sunny land of the\nVine, with its self-sown fields of ripened grain. At a later date\nGreenland itself vanished from the ken of living men; and romance\nsported with the fancies suggested by its name as a fertile oasis of\ngreen pastures walled in by the ice and snows of its Arctic zone.\n\nThe first authentic reference, now recoverable, to Vinland the Good has\nalready been referred to. It occurs in a passage in the _Iselandinga\nV\u00f3k_, by Ari Thorgilsson, the oldest Icelandic historiographer. Ari,\nsurnamed fro\u00f0i, or the learned, was born A.D. 1067, and survived till\n1148. The earliest manuscript of the Saga of Eric the Red dates as late\nas A.D. 1330. It is contained in the Arna Magn\u00e6an Codex, commonly known\nas _Hauks V\u00f3k_. Hauk Erlendsson, to whom the preservation of this copy\nof the original Saga is due, and by whom part of it appears to have been\nwritten, has appended to the manuscript a genealogy, in which he traces\nhis descent from the son of Karlsefne, born in Vinland. Two versions of\nthe narrative have been preserved, differing only in slight details; and\nof those Reeves says: \u201cThey afford the most graphic and succinct\nexposition of the discovery; and, supported as they are throughout by\ncontemporary history, appear in every respect most worthy of\ncredence.\u201d[9] The simple, unadorned narrative bears out the idea that it\nis a manuscript of information derived from the statements of the actual\nexplorers. The later story of Barni Herjulfson,\u2014an obvious\namplification of the original narrative, with a change of names, and\nmany spurious additions,\u2014occurs in the Flatey Book, a manuscript\nwritten before the close of the fourteenth century, when the Northmen of\nthe Scandinavian fatherland were reawakening to an interest in the\nmemories or traditions of early voyages to strange lands beyond the\nAtlantic Ocean, and fashioning them into legend and romance.\n\nThe poet, William Morris, represents the Vikings of the fourteenth\ncentury following the old leadings of Leif Ericson in search of the\nearthly paradise:\u2014\n\n                  That desired gate\n    To immortality and blessed rest\n    Within the landless waters of the West.\n\nThe time chosen is that of England\u2019s Edward III., and, still more, of\nEngland\u2019s Chaucer. But in reality all memory of the land which lay\nbeyond the waters of the Atlantic had faded as utterly from the minds of\nEurope\u2019s mariners, in that fourteenth century, as in the older days when\nPlato restored a lost Atlantis to give local habitation to his ideal\nRepublic. When the idea revived in the closing years of the fifteenth\ncentury, not as a philosophic dream, but as a legitimate induction of\nscience, the reception which it met with from the embodied wisdom of\nthat age, curiously illustrates the common experience of the pioneers in\nevery path of novel discovery.\n\nTo Columbus, with his well-defined faith in the form of the earth which\ngave him confidence to steer boldly westward in search of the Asiatic\nCipango: the existence of a continent beyond the Atlantic was no mere\npossibility. So early, at least, as 1474 he had conceived the design of\nreaching Asia by sailing to the West; and in that year he is known to\nhave expounded his plans to Paolo Toscanelli, the learned Florentine\nphysician and cosmographer, and to have received from him hearty\nencouragement. Assuming the world to be a sphere, he fortunately erred\nalike in under-estimating its size, and in over-estimating the extent to\nwhich the continent of Asia stretched eastward. In this way he\ndiminished the distance between the coasts of Europe and Asia; and so,\nwhen at length he sighted the new-found land of the West, so far from\ndreaming of another ocean wider than the Atlantic between him and the\nobject of his quest, he unhesitatingly designated the natives of\nGuanahani, or San Salvador, \u201cIndians,\u201d in the confident belief that this\nwas an outlying coast of Asiatic India. Nor was his reasoning unsound.\nHe sought, and would have found, a western route to that old east by the\nvery track he followed, had no American continent intervened. It was not\ntill his third voyage that the great Admiral for the first time beheld\nthe new continent,\u2014not indeed the Asiatic mainland, nor even the\nnorthern continent,\u2014but the embouchures of the Orinoco river, with its\nmighty volume of fresh water, proving beyond dispute that it drained an\narea of vast extent, and opened up access far into the interior of a new\nworld.\n\nColumbus had realised his utmost anticipations, and died in the belief\nthat he had reached the eastern shores of Asia. Nor is the triumph in\nany degree lessened by this assumption. The dauntless navigator, pushing\non ever westward into the mysterious waters of the unexplored Atlantic\nin search of the old East, presents one of the most marvellous examples\nof intelligent faith that science can adduce. To estimate all that it\nimplied, we have to turn back to a period when his unaccomplished\npurpose rested solely on that sure and well-grounded faith in the\ndemonstrations of science.\n\nIn the city of Salamanca there assembled in the Dominican convent of San\nEsteban, in the year 1487, a learned and orthodox conclave, summoned by\nPrior Fernando de Talavera, to pronounce judgment on the theory\npropounded by Columbus; and to decide whether in that most catholic of\nChristian kingdoms, on the very eve of its final triumph over the\ninfidel, it was a permissible belief that the Western World had even a\npossible existence. Columbus set before them the scientific\ndemonstration which constituted for himself indisputable evidence of an\nocean highway across the Atlantic to the continent beyond. The clerical\ncouncil included professors of mathematics, astronomy, and geography, as\nwell as other learned friars and dignitaries of the Church: probably as\nrespectable an assemblage of cloister-bred pedantry and orthodox\nconservatism as that fifteenth century could produce. Philosophical\ndeductions were parried by a quotation from St. Jerome or St. Augustine;\nand mathematical demonstrations by a figurative text of Scripture; and\nin spite alike of the science and the devout religious spirit of\nColumbus, the divines of Salamanca pronounced the idea of the earth\u2019s\nspherical form to be heterodox; and declared a belief in antipodes\nincompatible with the historical traditions of the Christian faith:\nsince to assert that there were inhabited lands on the opposite side of\nthe globe would be to maintain that there were nations not descended\nfrom Adam, it being impossible for them to have passed the intervening\nocean.\n\nIt may naturally excite a smile to thus find the very ethnological\nproblem of this nineteenth century thus dogmatically produced four\ncenturies earlier to prove that America was an impossibility. But in\nreality this ethnological problem long continued in all ways to affect\nthe question. Among the various evidences which Columbus adduced in\nconfirmation of his belief in the existence of a continent beyond the\nAtlantic, was the report brought to him by his own brother-in-law, Pedro\nCorrea, that the bodies of two dead men had been cast ashore on the\nisland of Flores, differing essentially from any known race, \u201cvery\nbroad-faced, and diverse in aspect from Christians\u201d; and, in truth, the\nmore widely they differed from all familiar Christian humanity, the more\nprobable did their existence appear to the men of that fifteenth\ncentury. Hence Shakespeare\u2019s marvellous creation of his Caliban. Upwards\nof a century and half had then elapsed since Columbus returned with the\nnews of a world beyond the Western Ocean; yet still to the men of\nShakespeare\u2019s day, the strange regions of which Columbus, Amerigo\nVespucci, Gomara, Lane, Harriot, and Raleigh wrote, seemed more fitly\noccupied by Calibans, and the like rude approximations to humanity, than\nby men and women in any degree akin to ourselves. Othello indeed only\nliterally reproduces Raleigh\u2019s account of a strange people on the Caoro,\nin Guiana. He had not, indeed, himself got sight of those marvellous\nEwaipanoma, though anxious enough to do so. Their eyes, as reported,\nwere in their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their\nbreasts. But the truth could not be doubted, since every child in the\nprovinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirmed the same. The founder of\nVirginia, assuredly one of the most sagacious men of that wise\nElizabethan era, and with all the experience which travel supplies,\nreverts again and again to this strange new-world race, as to a thing of\nwhich he entertained no doubt. The designation of Shakespeare\u2019s Caliban,\nis but an anagram of the epithet which Raleigh couples with the specific\ndesignation of those monstrous dwellers on the Caoro. \u201cTo the west of\nCaroli,\u201d he says, \u201care divers nations of Cannibals, and of those\nEwaipanoma without heads.\u201d Of \u201csuch men, whose head stood in their\nbreasts,\u201d Gonsalo, in _The Tempest_, reminds his companions, as a tale\nwhich every voyager brings back \u201cgood warrant of\u201d; and so it was in all\nhonesty that Othello entertained Desdemona with the story of his\nadventures:\u2014\n\n    Of moving accidents by flood and field . . .\n    And of the Cannibals that each other eat,\n    The Anthropophagi and men whose heads\n    Do grow beneath their shoulders.\n\nThe idea of an island-world lying in some unexplored ocean, apart from\nthe influences which affect humanity at large, with beings,\ninstitutions, and a civilisation of its own, had been the dream of very\ndiverse minds. When indeed we recall what the rude Norse galley of Eric\nthe Red must have been; and what the little \u201cPinta\u201d and the \u201cNina\u201d of\nColumbus\u2014the latter with a crew of only twenty-four men,\u2014actually\nwere; and remember, moreover, that the pole-star was the sole compass of\nthe earlier explorer; there seems nothing improbable in the assumption\nthat the more ancient voyagers from the Mediterranean, who claimed to\nhave circumnavigated Africa, and were familiar with the islands of the\nAtlantic, may have found their way to the great continent which lay\nbeyond. Vague intimations, derived seemingly from Egypt, encouraged the\nbelief in a submerged island or continent, once the seat of arts and\nlearning, afar on the Atlantic main. The most definite narrative of this\nvanished continent is that already referred to as recorded in the\n_Tim\u00e6us_ of Plato, on the authority of an account which Solon had\nreceived from an Egyptian priest. According to the latter the\ntemple-records of the Nile preserved the traditions of times reaching\nback far beyond the infantile fables of the Greeks. Yet, even these\npreserved some memory of deluges and convulsions by which the earth had\nbeen revolutionised. In one of them the vast Island of Atlantis\u2014a\ncontinent larger than Libya and Asia conjoined,\u2014had been engulfed in\nthe ocean which bears its name. This ocean-world of fancy or tradition,\nPlato revived as the seat of his imaginary commonwealth; and it had not\nlong become a world of fact when Sir Thomas More made it anew the seat\nof his famous Utopia, the exemplar of \u201cthe best state and form of a\npublic weale.\u201d \u201cUnfortunately,\u201d as the author quaintly puts it, \u201cneither\nwe remembered to inquire of Raphael, the companion of Amerike Vespuce on\nhis third voyage, nor he to tell us in what part of the new world Utopia\nis situate\u201d: and so there is no reason why we should not locate the seat\nof this perfect commonwealth within the young Canadian Dominion, so soon\nas it shall have merited this by the attainment of such Utopian\nperfectibility in its polity.\n\nBut it is not less curious to note the tardiness with which, after the\ndiscovery of the New World had been placed beyond question, its true\nsignificance was comprehended even by men of culture, and abreast of the\ngeneral knowledge of their time. Peter Giles, indeed, citizen of\nAntwerp, and assumed confidant of \u201cMaster More,\u201d writes with\nwell-simulated grief to the Right Hon. Counsellor Hierome Buslyde, \u201cas\ntouching the situation of the island, that is to say, in what part of\nthe world Utopia standeth, the ignorance and lack whereof not a little\ntroubleth and grieveth Master More\u201d; but as he had allowed the\nopportunity of ascertaining this important fact to slip by, so the like\nuncertainty long after mystified current ideas regarding the new-found\nworld. Ere the \u201cFlowers of the Forest\u201d had been weeded away on Flodden\nHill, the philosophers and poets of the liberal court of James IV. of\nScotland had learned in some vague way of the recent discovery; and so\nthe Scottish poet, Dunbar, reflecting on the King\u2019s promise of a\nbenefice still unfulfilled, hints in his poem \u201cOf the world\u2019s\ninstabilitie,\u201d that even had it come \u201cfra Calicut and the new-found\nIsle\u201d that lies beyond \u201cthe great sea-ocean, it might have comen in\nshorter while.\u201d Upwards of twenty years had passed since the return of\nthe great discoverer from his adventurous voyage; but the _Novus Orbis_\nwas then, and long afterwards continued to be, an insubstantial fancy;\nfor after nearly another twenty years had elapsed, Sir David Lindsay, in\nhis _Dreme_, represents Dame Remembrance as his guide and instructor in\nall heavenly and earthly knowledge; and among the rest, he says:\u2014\n\n    She gart me clearly understand\n    How that the Earth tripartite was in three;\n    In Afric, Europe, and Asie;\n\nthe latter being in the Orient, while Africa and Europe still\nconstituted the Occident, or western world. Many famous isles situated\nin \u201cthe ocean-sea\u201d also attract his notice; but \u201cthe new-found isle\u201d of\nthe elder poet had obviously faded from the memory of that younger\ngeneration.\n\nAnother century had nearly run its course since the eye of Columbus\nbeheld the long-expected land, when, in 1590, Edmund Spenser crossed the\nIrish Channel, bringing with him the first three books of his _Faerie\nQueen_; in the introduction to the second of which he thus defends the\nverisimilitude of that land of fancy in which the scenes of his \u201cfamous\nantique history\u201d are laid:\u2014\n\n        Who ever heard of th\u2019 Indian Peru?\n      Or who in venturous vessel measured\n        The Amazon, huge river, now found true?\n    Or fruitfullest Virginia who did ever view?\n\n      Yet all these were, when no man did them know,\n        Yet have from wisest ages hidden been;\n      And later times things more unknowne shall show.\n        Why then should witless man so much misween\n      That nothing is but that which he hath seen?\n        What if within the moon\u2019s fair shining sphere;\n      What if in every other star unseen,\n        Of other worlds he happily should hear?\n    He wonder would much more; yet such to some appear.\n\nRaleigh, the discoverer of Virginia, was Spenser\u2019s special friend, his\n\u201cShepherd of the Ocean,\u201d the patron under whose advice the poet visited\nEngland with the first instalment of the Epic, which he dedicated to\nQueen Elizabeth, \u201cto live with the eternity of her Fame.\u201d Yet it is\nobvious that to Spenser\u2019s fancy this western continent was then scarcely\nmore substantial than his own Faerie land. In truth it was still almost\nas much a world apart as if Raleigh and his adventurous crew had sailed\nup the blue vault of heaven, and brought back the story of another\nplanet on which it had been their fortune to alight.\n\nNor had such fancies wholly vanished long after the voyage across the\nAtlantic had become a familiar thing. It was in 1723 that the\nphilosophical idealist, Berkeley,\u2014afterwards Bishop of\nCloyne,\u2014formulated a more definite and yet not less visionary Utopia\nthan that of Sir Thomas More. He was about to organise \u201camong the\nEnglish in our Western plantations\u201d a seminary which was designed to\ntrain the young American savages, make them Masters of Arts, and fit\ninstruments for the regeneration of their own people; while the new\nAcademy was to accomplish no less for the reformation of manners and\nmorals among his own race. In his fancy\u2019s choice he gave a preference,\nat first for Bermuda, or the Summer Islands, as the site of his college;\nand \u201cpresents the bright vision of an academic home in those fair lands\nof the West, whose idyllic bliss poets had sung, from which Christian\ncivilisation might be made to radiate over this vast continent with its\nmagnificent possibilities in the future history of the race of man.\u201d It\nwas while his mind was preoccupied with this fine ideal \u201cof planting\nArts and Learning in America\u201d that he wrote the well-known lines:\u2014\n\n    There shall be sung another golden age,\n      The rise of empire and of arts;\n    The good and great inspiring epic rage,\n      The wisest heads and noblest hearts.\n\n    Not such as Europe breeds in her decay:\n      Such as she bred when fresh and young,\n    When heavenly flame did animate her clay,\n      By future poets shall be sung.\n\n    Westward the course of empire takes its way;\n      The four first acts already past,\n    A fifth shall close the drama with the day;\n      Time\u2019s noblest offspring is the last.\n\nThe visionary philosopher followed up his project so far as to transport\nhimself\u2014not to the Summer Islands of which Waller had sung,\u2014but to\nthat same Rhode Island which Danish and New England antiquaries were at\na later date to identify, whether rightly or not, as the Vinland of the\nIcelandic Sagas. One of these ancient chroniclers had chanced to note\nthat, on the shortest day of the year in Vinland, they had the sun above\nthe horizon at _eykt_ and _dagmat_; that is at their regular evening and\nmorning meal. Like our own term breakfast, the names were significant\nand allusive. The old Icelandic poet, Snorro Sturluson, author of the\nEdda and the Sagas of the Norwegian Kings, has left on record that at\nhis Icelandic home eykt occurred at sunset on the first day of winter.\nProfessor Rafn hailed this old record as the key to the latitude of\nVinland. The Danish King, Frederick VI., sympathising in researches that\nreflected back honour on their Norse ancestry, called in the aid of the\nAstronomer Royal; and Professor Rafn felt authorised forthwith to\ninstruct the Rhode Island antiquaries that the latitude of the long-lost\nVinland was near Newport, in Narragansett Bay. Their response, with the\nauthenticating engravings of the world-famous Newport stone mill, and\nthe runes of Thorfinn on Dighton Rock, in Rafn\u2019s learned quarto volume,\nhave been the source of many a later comment, both in prose and rhyme.\n\nBut all this lay in a still remote future when, in 1728, Berkeley landed\nat Rhode Island with projects not unsuited to the dream of a Vinland the\nGood, where a university was to be reared as a centre of culture and\nregeneration for the aborigines of the New World. The indispensable\nprerequisite of needful funds had been promised him by the English\nGovernment; but the promised grant was never realised. Meanwhile he\nbought a farm, the purposed site perhaps of his beneficent centre of\nintellectual life for the Island state, and sojourned there for three\nyears in pleasant seclusion, leaving behind him kindly memories that\nendeared him to many friends. He planned, if he did not realise many\ngoodly Utopias; speculated on space and time, and objective idealism;\nand then bade farewell to Rhode Island, and to his romantic dream of\nregenerated savages and a renovated world. Soon after his return home\nthe practical fruits of his quiet sojourn beyond the Atlantic appeared\nin the form of his _Alciphron: or the Minute Philosopher_; in which, in\nthe form of a dialogue, he discusses the varied forms of speculative\nscepticism, at the very period when Pope was embodying in his _Essay on\nMan_ the brilliant, but superficial philosophy which constituted the\nessence of thought for men of the world in his age. It is in antithesis\nto such speculations that Berkeley there advances his own theory,\ndesigned to show that all nature is the language of God, everywhere\ngiving expressive utterance to the Divine thought.\n\nSo long as the American continent lay half revealed in its vague\nobscurity, as a new world lying beyond the Atlantic, and wholly apart\nfrom the old, it seemed the fitting site for imaginary Vinlands,\nUtopias, Summer Islands, and earthly paradises of all sorts: the scenes\nof a realised perfectibility beyond the reach of Europe \u201cin her decay.\u201d\nNor was the refined metaphysical idealist the latest dreamer of such\ndreams. In our own century, Southey, Coleridge, and the little band of\nBristol enthusiasts who planned their grand pantisocratic scheme of\nintellectual communism, created for themselves, with like fertile fancy,\na Utopia of their own, \u201cwhere Susquehana pours his untamed stream\u201d; and\nmany a later dreamer has striven after like ideal perfectibility in\n\u201cpeaceful Freedom\u2019s undivided dale.\u201d\n\n-----\n\n[4] Montgomery, James, _Greenland_, Canto IV.\n\n[5] _Mem. des Antiq. du Nord_, N.S., 1888, p. 341.\n\n[6] _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, p. 6.\n\n[7] _The Finding of Wineland the Good: the History of the Icelandic\nDiscovery of America_, edited and translated from the earliest records,\nby Arthur Middleton Reeves.\n\n[8] _Vide_ Dr. Brinton, _Races and Peoples_, p. 215 note.\n\n[9] Arthur Middleton Reeves, _Finding of Wineland the Good_, p. 28.\n\n\n\n\n                                  III\n                   TRADE AND COMMERCE IN THE STONE AGE\n\n\nTHE term \u201cStone Period\u201d or \u201cStone Age\u201d was suggested in the early years\nof the present century by the antiquaries of Denmark as the fitting\ndesignation of that primitive era in western Europe\u2014with its\ncorresponding stage among diverse peoples in widely severed regions and\nages,\u2014when the use of metals was unknown. That there was a period in\nthe history of the human race, before its Tubal-cains, Vulcans, V\u0153lands,\nor other Smith-gods appeared, when man depended on stone, bone, ivory,\nshells, and wood, for the raw material out of which to manufacture his\nimplements and weapons, is now universally admitted; and is confirmed by\nthe abundant disclosures of the drift and the caves. The simple, yet\nhighly suggestive classification, due to Thomsen of Copenhagen, was the\nfirst scientific recognition of the fact, now established by evidence\nderived from periods of vastly greater antiquity than the Neolithic age\nof Denmark. The accumulated experience of many generations was required\nbefore men mastered the useful service of fire in the smelting of ores\nand the casting of metals. Nevertheless it seems probable that the\nknowledge of fire, and its useful service on the domestic hearth, are\ncoeval with the existence of man as a rational being. The evidence of\nits practical application to the requirements for warmth and cooking\ncarry us back to the age of cave implements, including some among the\nearliest known examples of man\u2019s tool-making industry. In connection\nwith this subject, Sir John Evans draws attention to some curious\nindications of the antiquity of the use of flint by the\nfire-producer.[10] He refers to the ingenious derivation of the word\n_silex_ as given by Vincent of Beauvais, in the _Speculum Natur\u00e6_,\n\u201cSilex est lapis durus, sic dictus eo quod ex eo ignis exsiliat,\u201d and he\nrecalls a more remarkable reminiscence of the evoking of fire in the\nNeolithic if not in the Pal\u00e6olithic period. Pliny informs us (lib. vii.\ncap. 56), that it was Pyrodes, the son of Cilix, who first devised the\nway to strike fire out of flint; \u201cA myth,\u201d says Sir John Evans, \u201cwhich\nseems to point to the use of silex and pyrites (from \u03c0\u1fe6\u03c1) rather than of\nsteel.\u201d In reality the flint and pyrites lie together in the same lower\nstrata of the chalk. As the ancient flint-miners sunk their pits in\nsearch of the levels where the flint abounds they would meet with\nfrequent nodules of pyrites. The first grand discovery of the\nfire-producer may have resulted from the use of the pyrites as a mere\nhammer-stone to break up the larger flints.\n\nBut whatever was the source of this all-important discovery, it dates\namong the earliest manifestations of human intelligence. Nodules of iron\npyrites have been found in the caves of France and Belgium, among\nremains pertaining to the Pal\u00e6olithic age, and are among the most\ninteresting disclosures of the greatly more modern, though still\nprehistoric age of the barrows and cairns of the Allophylian period of\nBritain, and of Western Europe generally. Sir R. C. Hoare records the\nfinding, among the contents of a cinerary urn, in a Wiltshire barrow,\n\u201cchipped flints prepared for arrow heads, a long piece of flint, and a\n_pyrites_, both evidently smoothed by usage.\u201d[11] More recent explorers,\napprised of the significance of such discoveries, have noted the\npresence of nodules of pyrites, accompanying the personal ornaments and\nweapons occurring in graves of the same age: deposited there either as\ntokens of regard, or more probably with a vague idea of their utility to\nthe dead in the life beyond the grave. In a communication to the Society\nof Antiquaries of Scotland on a group of stone cists disclosed, in 1879,\non the farm of Teinside, Teviotdale, Lord Rosehill thus describes part\nof the contents of one of them. \u201cIt was filled with dark-coloured earth,\nmixed with charcoal; and closely intermingled in every part with\nfragments of bones which had been exposed to the action of fire.\u201d A\nbroken urn lay about ten inches from the top. \u201cClose to the urn was a\nrounded piece of metallic-looking substance, which appears to be\n\u2018radiated iron pyrites,\u2019 and which,\u201d adds Lord Rosehill, \u201cI have myself\ndiscovered in several interments.\u201d[12] More recently, in 1883, Major\nColin Mackenzie reported to the same Society the discovery of a cist and\nurn in the Black Isle, Ross-shire.[13] He thus proceeds: \u201cWhilst\ngathering together the broken pieces of the urn, a round-nosed\nflint-flake or scraper, chipped at the edges, was found amongst the\ndebris, and proved to have a bluish tinge, as if it had been subjected\nto the action of fire. Close beside it there was found a round piece of\niron pyrites, flat on one side, in shape somewhat like the half of an\negg, divided lengthways, only smaller. Dr. Joseph Anderson at once\nrecognised this as forming, along with the solitary flint, nothing less\nthan a prehistoric \u2018strike-light\u2019 apparatus.\u201d[14] No flint is procurable\nin the locality; and after the closest search, no other flint implement\nor flake was found on the site. In communicating this interesting\ndiscovery to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Major Mackenzie\nreviewed the disclosures of this class in Great Britain, so far as they\nhad been noted by Hoare, Borlase, Bateman, Greenwell and Evans,\nfurnishing a tabulated statement of eleven examples, chiefly found in\nbarrows, and ranging over an area extending from Cornwall to Ross-shire;\nand to those additions have since been made. He draws attention to their\noccurrence in localities which produce neither pyrites nor flint. But\nwith the former, at least, this need not surprise us. The prized and\neasily transported pyrites may be looked for in any ancient barrow or\nsepulchral deposit, and has probably in many cases passed unnoted before\nits significance was understood. Now that this is fully appreciated, it\nis seen to have been in use from the early stages of primitive art: the\nvery dawn of science; and doubtless the pyrites and flint found in\nlocalities remote from those where they occur as natural products are in\nmost cases due to primitive barter.\n\nThe old Promethean myth represents the fire-bringer interposing on\nbehalf of a degraded race of beings whose helpless lot had been preceded\nby the Hesiodic Golden, Silver, and Bronze ages, as well as by an Heroic\nage of such demigods as the Titan son of Iapetus. By a reverse process\nof evolution from the lower to higher stages, the anthropoid, or Caliban\nof arch\u00e6ological science, becomes the tool-maker, the tool-user, and in\nthe same primitive stage, the fire-maker. But the service of fire is\nrequired by man under the most varied conditions of life. The stone lamp\nwith its moss wick, and the stone kettle, are important implements in\nthe snow-hut of the Eskimo. On those he depends, not only for cooking,\nbut for his supply of water from melted snow; and without the lighted\ntaper of his stone lamp the indoor life of the long, unbroken Arctic\nnight would be passed in a rayless dungeon. He has inherited the\nknowledge of the pal\u00e6olithic fire-maker, from whom, indeed, some have\nclaimed for him direct genealogical descent; and he generally treasures\namong his most useful appliances a piece of quartz, and a nodule of\npyrites, which constitute his flint and steel. At the remote extreme of\nthe southern continent the same precious bequest is in use by the\nFuegians and Patagonians of Tierra del Fuego, the name of which is a\nmemorial of its fire-using savages. The Fuegian makes a hearth of clay\nin the bottom of his rudely constructed bark canoe, on which he\nhabitually keeps a fire burning. He prepares a tinder of dried moss or\nfungus, which is readily ignited by the spark struck from a flinty stone\nby means of a pyrites. The invaluable discovery is shared by the lowest\nraces. The Australian, the Andaman Islander, and other rudest tribes of\nthe Old and the New World, have mastered the same great secret, and turn\nit to useful account.\n\nThe tradition may have been perpetuated from generation to generation\nfrom the remotest dawn of human reason, or it may have been rediscovered\nindependently among diverse races. But wherever the value of the pyrites\nin evoking the latent spark of the flint was known, it would be a\ncoveted prize and a valuable object of barter. The story of the old\nfire-makers is recorded still in the charcoal ashes of many an ancient\nhearth; for charcoal is one of the most indestructible of substances\nwhen buried. In the famous Kent\u2019s Hole limestone cavern at Torbay,\nDevonshire, explorers have systematically pursued research backward from\nthe specifically dated stalagmitic record of \u201cRobert Hodges, of Ireland,\nFeb. 20, 1688,\u201d through Saxon, Roman, British, and Neolithic strata, to\nthe deposit where human remains lay embedded alongside of those of the\nwoolly rhinoceros, the mammoth, the fossil horse, the hy\u00e6na and\ncave-bear. There also lay, not only the finished implements, but the\nflakes and flint cores that revealed the workshop of the primitive\ntool-maker, and the charcoal that preserved the traces of his ancient\nfire. So, too, in the Cromagnon rock-shelter of the Perigord, in an\nupper valley of the Garonne, repeated layers of charcoal, interspersed\nwith broken bones and other culinary remains of the ancient\ncave-dwellers, tell of the knowledge and use of fire in western Europe\u2019s\nReindeer and Mammoth ages by pal\u00e6olithic man. Compared with such\ndisclosures of primeval arts, the discoveries on which the Danish\narch\u00e6ologists based their systematising of prehistoric remains belong,\ngeologically speaking, to modern eras. Denmark is underlaid essentially\nby Upper Cretaceous rocks, the _Etage Danien_ of most French writers,\nand the _Faxoe Kelke_ of German geologists. Drift clays and gravels\noverlie the cretaceous rocks in many places, with more recent deposits\nof sands, gravels, etc. These latter are of Neolithic age, containing\nbones only of existing mammals. Pal\u00e6olithic deposits, with bones of\nextinct species, do not appear to have been recognised in Denmark; nor\nis there any trace of the presence of pal\u00e6olithic man. Hence the field\nalike of Danish antiquarian research and of arch\u00e6ological speculation\nwas greatly circumscribed. But thus precluded from the study of\nprimitive arts in that vague pal\u00e6olithic dawn which lies outside of the\nspeculations of the historian, and beyond resort to classical\nauthorities for evidence in the interpretation of local disclosures, the\nDanish antiquary escaped the temptation to many misleading assumptions\nwhich long perplexed the arch\u00e6ologists of France and England; and so his\nlimited range has tended to facilitate the investigations into\nsubsequent disclosures relative to an ampler antiquity of man and his\narts.\n\nWithin the old Roman provinces of Western Europe, the Latin conquerors\nwere not only accredited with whatever showed any trace of Hellenic or\nRoman art, but with the sole skill in working in iron. The Dane and\nNorthman were assumed to have followed in their wake with bronze, as\nwith runes and other essentially non-classical products; though still\nthe beautiful leaf-shaped sword and other choicest relics of the Bronze\nage were not infrequently ascribed to the Romans. But philologists had\nnot yet assigned a place to the Celtic in the Aryan family of languages.\nThe Celt was not only assumed to be the barbarous precursor, alike of\nRoman and Dane, but to be the primeval man of Western Europe. Hence when\nthe first hoards of pal\u00e6olithic flint implements were accidentally\ndiscovered in Sussex and Kent, their Celtic or British origin was\nassumed without question. But the known historic position of the\nNorthman on Scandinavian soil prevented the crude application of the\nterm \u201cDanish\u201d to every bronze relic found there; and as no Roman\nconqueror had trodden the soil of Denmark, the ethnology as well as the\narch\u00e6ology of the region was left unaffected by misleading complexities\nthat resulted from the presence of the Romans in Gaul and Britain. The\nabsence of remains of pal\u00e6olithic man still further simplified the\nproblem; while the geology of the Danish peninsula favoured the\nneolithic tool-maker. Flint abounds there in amorphous nodules or\nblocks, and the nuclei, or cores, from which a succession of flakes have\nbeen struck, are of frequent occurrence among the relics of the Danish\nStone age. Flint is no less abundant throughout the regions of France\nand England on either side of the English Channel; and there,\naccordingly, alike in the caves and the river-drift, the rude, massive\nflint implements of the Pal\u00e6olithic era abound.\n\nThe natural cleavage of flint, as also of the obsidian found in volcanic\nlocalities in the Old and New World, so readily adapts both materials to\nthe manufacture of knives, lances, and arrow heads, that they appear to\nhave been turned to account by the tool-maker from the dawn of rudest\nart. But it must not be overlooked that obsidian is limited to volcanic\nregions, and flint is no more universally available than bronze or iron.\nIn some countries it is rare; in still more it is entirely wanting; and\nyet its peculiar aptitude for tool-making appears to have been\nrecognised at the earliest period; so that implements and weapons of\nflint, alike of the Pal\u00e6olithic and the Neolithic age, abound in many\nlocalities where the raw material of the tool-maker is unknown.\n\nIt was only natural that the systematic study and classification of the\nmanufactures of the ancient workers in flint should be first carried out\nin regions such as the Danish peninsula, geologically related to the\nCretaceous period, and abounding in the material which most readily\nadapts itself to the requirements of an implement-maker ignorant of the\narts of metallurgy. But the same inexhaustible store of raw material was\navailable to the \u201cFlint-folk,\u201d whose implements have become so familiar\nby reason of more recent disclosures, of France and England, belonging\nto a period when the climate, the physical geography, and the whole\nanimal life of Western Europe, contrasted in every respect with anything\nwe have knowledge of in remotest historic times. Those rude examples of\nprimitive art lie alongside of the unwrought flint in such profusion\nthat the examples of them already accumulated in the museums of Europe\nand America amount to many thousands. But now that attention has been\nthus widely drawn to their character and significance, it is found that\nimplements of the same class not only abound in regions geologically\nfavourable to their production, but they occur in nearly every country\nin Europe, and on widely scattered localities in Asia and Africa, where\nno such natural resources were available for their manufacture.\n\nThe earliest known type of primitive flint implements, illustrative of a\nclass now very familiar to arch\u00e6ologists, was accidentally recovered\nfrom the quaternary gravel beds of the Thames valley, in the heart of\nOld London, before the close of the seventeenth century. It is a\nwell-made spear-pointed implement, with an unusually tapering point,\nwhile the butt-end is broad and roughly fashioned, so that it could be\nused in the hand without any haft as a spade or hoe. The deposit in\nwhich it lay would now be accepted as unquestionable evidence of its\nPal\u00e6ocosmic age; but at the date of its discovery, the Celtic era was\nregarded as that to which all oldest traces of European man pertained.\nThis interesting relic is accordingly described in the Sloane Catalogue\nof the British Museum as \u201ca British weapon, found with elephant\u2019s tooth,\nopposite to Black Mary\u2019s, near Gray\u2019s Inn Lane.\u201d In 1797, another and\nhighly interesting discovery of the same class was communicated to the\nSociety of Antiquaries of London by one of its members, Mr. John\nFrere.[15] In this case a large number of pal\u00e6oliths were found lying at\na depth of twelve feet from the surface, in a gravelly soil containing\nfresh-water shells and bones of great size. Subsequent excavations in\nthe same locality, at Hoxne, Suffolk, confirm the presence there of the\nbones of the mammoth, as well as of the fossil horse and the deer. Mr.\nFrere was so strongly impressed with the evidence of antiquity that he\ninclined to assign the implements to a remote age, \u201ceven beyond that of\nthe present world.\u201d By this, however, he probably meant no more than M.\nBoucher de Perthes, when, so recently as 1847, he entitled his volume\ndevoted to the corresponding discoveries in the valley of the Somme,\n_Antiquit\u00e9s Celtiques et Ant\u00e9diluviennes_. The antiquity of man, as now\nunderstood, was then unthought of; and the word \u201cantediluvian\u201d sufficed\nas a vague expression of remote indefinite antiquity for which\npre-Celtic would then have been accepted as an equivalent. Mr. Frere\nspeaks of the flint implements as \u201cevidently weapons of war fabricated\nand used by a people who had not the use of metals.\u201d He further adds:\n\u201cThe manner in which they lie would lead to the persuasion that it was a\nplace of their manufacture, and not of their accidental deposit; and the\nnumbers of them were so great that the man who carried on the brick-work\ntold me that before he was aware of their being objects of curiosity he\nhad emptied baskets full of them into the ruts of the adjoining\nroad.\u201d[16]\n\nWhen, in December 1886, Mr. J. Allan Brown communicated to the same\nSociety an analogous discovery near Ealing, Middlesex, English\narch\u00e6ologists had become so familiar with the idea of the antiquity of\npal\u00e6olithic man, and the arts of his epoch, that the existence of\npre-Celtic races in Britain was accepted as a mere truism. It was not,\ntherefore, any matter of surprise to be told of the discovery of a\npal\u00e6olithic workshop floor of the Drift period, near Ealing. It lay\nabout a hundred feet above the present bed of the Thames; and here, six\nfeet below the surface, on an ancient sloping bank of the river, an area\nof about forty feet square disclosed nearly six hundred unabraded worked\nflints, including neatly finished spear heads from five to six inches in\nlength. Alongside of these lay roughly wrought axes, chipped on one or\nboth sides to a cutting edge, and some of them unfinished. There were\nalso flint flakes, some with serrated edges, and well-finished knives,\nborers, drills, chisels, etc. Waste flakes and chippings, as well as\ncores, or partially worked blocks of flint, were also observed in\nsufficient numbers to leave no doubt that here, in the place of their\nmanufacture, lay buried beneath the accumulations of unnumbered\ncenturies industrial products of the skilled artizans of the British\nIslands contemporary with the long-extinct quaternary fauna.[17]\n\nThe types of flint implements, found at Hoxne in 1797, correspond to\nother pal\u00e6oliths recovered from rolled gravel and clay of the glacial\ndrift in the valleys of the Thames, the Somme, and the Seine. In their\nmassive and artless rudeness they seem to realise for us some fit ideal\nof the primitive fabricator in his first efforts at tool-making. But the\nEaling find accords with the more extended discoveries of this class. In\nreality, the manufactures of pal\u00e6olithic man, as a whole, are less\nartless than many examples of modern Indian flint-work. Not a few of the\nstone axes have had their shape determined by that of the water-worn\nstones out of which they were fashioned, and so required much less skill\nthan was necessarily expended in chipping the flint nodule into the\nrudest of pointed implements. Any close-grained rock, admitting of\ngrinding and polish, was available for fashioning the larger weapons and\ndomestic implements, alike among the men of the Neolithic age and the\nnative races of the American continent in modern centuries. For many of\nthe simpler requirements of the tool-user, any apt stone chip or\nwater-worn pebble sufficed; and scarcely anything can be conceived of\nmore rude or artless than some of the stone weapons and implements in\nuse among savage tribes at the present day. Professor Joseph Leidy\ndescribes a scraper employed by the Shoshone Indians in dressing\nbuffalo-skins, consisting of a thin segment of quartzite, so devoid of\nmanipulative skill that, he says, had he noticed it among the strata of\nindurated clays and sandstone, instead of seeing it in actual use, he\nwould have regarded it as an accidental spawl.[18] Dr. Charles C.\nAbbott, in his _Primitive Industry of the Native Races_, furnishes\nillustrations of pointed flakes, or arrow tips, triangular arrow heads,\nspear heads, and other stone implements, only a little less rude and\nshapeless.[19] Of a similar character is the blade of a war-club in use\namong the Indians of the Rio Frio, in Texas.[20] Nothing so rude has\nbeen ascribed to artificial origin among the disclosures of the drift,\nthough corresponding implements may have escaped notice; for were it not\nthat the chipped piece of trachyte of the Texas war-club is inserted in\na wooden haft of unmistakable human workmanship, the blade would\nscarcely suggest the idea of artificial origin. Mere rudeness,\ntherefore, is no certain evidence of the first artless efforts of man to\nfurnish himself with tools.\n\nUntil we arrive at the period of neolithic art, with its perforated\nhammers, grooved axes, net-sinkers, gouges, adzes, and numerous other\nground and polished implements, fashioned of granite, diorite, trap, and\nother igneous rocks, the forms of implements are few and simple,\ndependent to a large extent on the natural cleavage of the flint. The\ncommoner examples of neolithic art, recovered in thousands from ancient\nScandinavian, Gaulish, and British graves, from the lake-dwellings of\nSwitzerland, the Danish and British shell mounds, the peat mosses of\nDenmark and Ireland, and from numerous other depositories of prehistoric\nindustrial art, are scarcely distinguishable from the flint knives,\nscrapers, spears, and arrow heads, or the chisels and axes, manufactured\nby the American Indians at the present day. The material available in\ncertain localities, such as the claystone of the Haida and Babeen\nIndians, and the argillite of the old implement-makers of New Jersey,\nthe obsidian of Mexico, or the quartz, jasper, and greenstone of many\nCanadian centres, give a specific character to the implements of the\nvarious regions; but, on the whole, the arts of the Stone period of the\nmost diverse races and eras present striking analogies, scarcely less\nsuggestive of the operation of a tool-making instinct than the work of\nthe nest-builders, or the ingenious art of the beaver. But the massive\nand extremely rude implements of the river-drift and caves present\nessentially different types, controlled indeed, like the productions of\nlater artificers, by the natural cleavage and other essential properties\nof the material in which the flint-worker wrought, but with some\ncharacteristic differences, suggestive of habits and conditions of life\nin which the artificer of the Mammoth or Reindeer period differed from\nthe tool-maker of Europe\u2019s Neolithic age, or the Indian savage of modern\ncenturies.\n\nThe tool-bearing drift-gravel of France and England presents its relics\nof primitive art intermingled with countless amorphous unwrought flints.\nBoth have been subjected to the violent action of floods, to which the\npresent condition of such geological deposits is due; and many contents\nof the caves, though subjected to less violence, are the results of\nsimilar causes. But, along with numerous implements of the rude drift\ntype, the sheltered recesses of the caves have preserved, not only the\nsmaller and more delicate flint implements, but carefully wrought tools\nand weapons of bone, horn, and ivory. Some, at least, of those\nundoubtedly belong to the Pal\u00e6olithic age, and therefore tend to verify\nconclusions, not only as to the mechanical ingenuity, but also as to the\nintellectual capacity of the earliest tool-makers. The large almond and\ntongue-shaped flint implements are so massive as to have effectually\nresisted the violence to which they, along with other contents of the\nrolled gravels in which they occur, were subjected; whereas it is only\nin the favouring shelter of the caves, or in rare primitive sepulchral\ndeposits, that delicate trimmed flakes and the more perishable\nimplements of bone and ivory, or horn, have escaped destruction.\n\nThe pal\u00e6olithic implements to which Boucher de Perthes directed\nattention so early as 1840, were recovered from drift-gravel beds, where\namorphous flint nodules, both whole and fractured, abound in countless\nnumbers; and this tended to suggest very reasonable doubts as to the\nartificial origin of the rude implements lying in close proximity to\nthem. Nor was this incredulity lessened by the significance assigned by\nhim to other contents of the same drift-gravel. For so far was Boucher\nde Perthes from overlooking the endless variety of fractured pieces of\nflint recoverable from the drift beds, that his narrative is\nsupplemented by a series of plates of _L\u2019Industrie Primitive_, the\nlarger number of which present chipped flints so obviously the mere\nproducts of accidental fracture or of weathering, that they contributed\nin no slight degree to discredit the book on its first appearance.\nOthers of them, however, show true flakes, scrapers, and fragments\nprobably referable to smaller implements of the same class, such as\nwould be recognised without hesitation as of artificial origin if found\nalongside of undoubted flint implements in a cave deposit, or in any\nbarrow, cist, or sepulchral urn. In so far as they belong to the true\nDrift, and not to the Neolithic or the Gallo-Roman period, they tend to\nconfirm the idea that the large almond and tongue-shaped implements are\nnot the sole relics of pal\u00e6olithic art.\n\nBut now that adequate attention has been given to the stone implements\nof the Drift-folk, or the men of the Mammoth and Reindeer ages, it\nbecomes apparent that they are by no means limited to such localities.\nOn the contrary, sites of native manufactories of flint implements, with\nabundant remains of the fractured debris of the ancient tool-makers\u2019\nworkshop, some of which are described on a later page, have been\ndiscovered remote from any locality where the raw material could be\nprocured. Until the gun flint was superseded by the percussion cap, the\nmaterial for its manufacture was procured by sinking shafts through the\nchalk until the beds of flint suited for the purpose were reached. In\nthis the modern flint-worker only repeated the practice of the primitive\ntool-maker. A group of ancient flint pits at Cissbury, near Worthing,\nhas been brought into prominent notice by the systematic explorations of\nColonel A. Lane Fox. They occur in and around one of the aboriginal\nhill-forts of Sussex, the name of which has been connected with Cissa,\nthe son of Ella, who is referred to by Camden as \u201cSaxon king of those\nparts.\u201d But any occupation of the old hill-fort as a Saxon stronghold\nbelongs to very recent times when compared with that of the\nflint-workers, whose pits have attracted the notice of modern explorers.\nColonel Lane Fox describes Cissbury Hill Fort as a great flint arsenal.\nHere within its earthen ramparts the workmen who fashioned the arms of\nthe Stone age excavated for the beds of native flint in the underlying\nchalk, and industriously worked it into every variety of weapon. \u201cIn one\nplace a collection of large flakes might be seen, where evidently the\nfirst rough outline of a flint implement had been formed. In another\nplace a quantity of small flakes showed where a celt had been brought to\nperfection by minute and careful chipping.\u201d[21] In other excavations the\npounders, or stone hammers, were found, with a smooth rounded end by\nwhich they were held in the hand, and the other bruised and fractured in\nthe manufacture of the flint implements that abound on the same\nsite.[22] Twenty-five pits were explored; and from these hundreds of\nworked flints were recovered in every stage of workmanship: chips,\nflakes, cores, balls, and finished knives; drills, scrapers, spear\nheads, and axes or celts. In fact, Colonel Lane Fox sums up his general\nstatement of details with the remark that \u201cCissbury has produced\nspecimens of nearly every type known to have been found among flint\nimplements, from the Drift and Cave up to the Surface period.\u201d[23] But\nthis \u201cWoolwich\u201d of the flint age occupied an altogether exceptional\nposition, with the raw material immediately underlying the military\nenclosure, not improbably constructed on purpose to defend the primitive\narsenal and workshop, and so render its garrison independent of all\nforeign supplies.\n\nOther flint pits point to the labours of the industrious miner, and the\nprobable transport of the raw material to distant localities where the\nprized flint could only be procured from traders, who bartered it for\nother needful supplies. An interesting group of flint pits of this\nlatter class has been subjected to careful exploration by the Rev. Canon\nGreenwell, with the ingenious inference already noted, of the traces of\na left-handed workman among the flint-miners of the Neolithic age. This\nwas based on the relative position and markings of two picks fashioned\nfrom the antlers of the red deer, corresponding to others of the ancient\nminers\u2019 tools found scattered through the long-deserted shafts and\ngalleries of the flint pits.\n\nThe shallow depressions on the surface, which guide the explorer to\nthose shafts of the ancient workmen, are analogous to others that reveal\nthe funnel-shaped excavations hereafter described, on Flint Ridge, the\nsites of ancient flint pits of the American arrow-makers. In France,\nGermany, and Switzerland, as well as in Great Britain, many localities\nare no less familiar, on which the refuse flakes, and chippings of flint\nand other available material, show where they have been systematically\nfashioned into implements. The Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of\nScotland has acquired numerous interesting additions to its collections\nof objects of this class by encouraging systematic research. From the\nsands at Colvin and Findhorn, Morayshire; Little Ferry, Sutherlandshire;\nand from Burghhead, Drainie, and Culbin sands, Elginshire, nearly seven\nthousand specimens have been recovered, consisting chiefly of flint\nflakes and chippings; but also including several hundred arrow heads,\nknives, and scrapers, many of them unfinished or broken.\n\nThus, in various localities, remote from native sources of flint, a\nsystematic manufacture of implements appears to have been carried on.\nThere can, therefore, be scarcely any hesitation in inferring, from the\nevidence adduced, first a trade in the raw material brought from the\ndistant localities of the flint mines; and then a local traffic in the\nmanufactured implements, as was undoubtedly the case among the American\naborigines at no remote date. This aspect of primitive interchange, both\nof the raw material and the products of industrial skill, in so far as\nit is illustrated in the practice of the American Indian tribes, merits\nthe most careful study, as a help to the interpretation of the\narch\u00e6ological evidence pertaining to prehistoric times. To the\nsuperficial observer, stone is of universal occurrence; and it seems,\ntherefore, needless to inquire where the implement-maker of any Stone\nage procured the rough block out of which he fashioned his weapon or\ntool. Only when copper, bronze, and iron superseded the crude material\nof the Stone age has it been supposed to be needful to determine the\nsources of supply. But that is a hasty and wholly incorrect surmise. The\nuntutored savage is indeed greatly limited in his choice of materials.\nWe are familiar with the shell-workers of the Caribbees and the Pacific\nIslands, and the horn and ivory workers of Arctic regions; but where the\nresources of an ample range could be turned to account, the primitive\nworkman learned at a very early date to select by preference such stones\nas break with a conchoidal fracture. Only where such could not be had,\nthe most available chance-fractured chip or the apt water-worn stone was\nturned to account. Rude implements are accordingly met with fashioned of\ntrap, sienite, diorite, granite, and other igneous rocks, as well as\nfrom quartzite, agate, jasper, serpentine, and slate. Some of those\nmaterials were specially favoured by the neolithic workmen for certain\nclasses of their carefully finished weapons and implements, such as\nperforated hammers, large axes, gouges, and chisels. But the natural\ncleavage of the flint, and the sharp edge exposed by every fracture,\nadapt it for fashioning the smaller knives, lance and arrow heads, in a\nway no other material except obsidian equals. Hence flint appears to\nhave been no less in request among ancient tool-makers than copper, tin,\nand iron in the later periods of metallurgic art.\n\nThe fact that tin is a metal of rare occurrence, though found in nearly\ninexhaustible quantities in some regions, has given a peculiar\nsignificance to certain historical researches, apart from the special\ninterest involved in the processes of the primitive metallurgist, and\nthe widely diffused traces of workers in bronze. The comparative rarity\nof flint, and its total absence in many localities, suggest a like\ninquiry into the probable sources of its supply in regions remote from\nits native deposits. The flint lance or arrow head, thrown by an enemy,\nor wrested from the grasp of a vanquished foe, would, as in the case of\nimproved weapons of war in many a later age, first introduce the prized\nmaterial to the notice of less favoured tribes. As the primitive\ntool-maker learned by experience the greater adaptability of flint than\nof most other stones for the manufacture of his weapons and implements,\nit may be assumed that it became an object of barter in localities\nremote from those where it abounds; and thus, by its diffusion, it may\nhave constituted a recognised form of _pecunia_ ages before the barter\nof pastoral tribes gave rise to the peculiar significance attached to\nthat term.\n\nOne piece of confirmatory evidence of trade in unwrought flint is the\nfrequent occurrence of numerous flint flakes among the prized gifts\ndeposited with the dead. Canon Greenwell describes, among the contents\nof a Yorkshire barrow in the parish of Ganton, a deposit of flint flakes\nand chippings numbering one hundred and eighteen, along with a few\nfinished scrapers and arrow heads;[24] and smaller deposits of like kind\nare repeatedly noted by him. Still more, he describes their occurrence\nunder circumstances which suggest the probability of the scattering of\nflint flakes, like an offering of current coin, by the mourners, as the\nprimitive grave was covered in and the memorial mound piled over the\nsacred spot. Flints and potsherds, he says, occur more constantly, and\neven more abundantly than bones; and this presents to his mind a\ndifficult problem, in considering which he refers to an analogous\npractice of a very diverse age. The maimed rites at poor Ophelia\u2019s grave\nare familiar to the reader of _Hamlet_. The priest replies to the demand\nof Laertes for more ample ceremony at his sister\u2019s burial:\u2014\n\n          But that great command o\u2019ersways the order,\n    She should in ground unsanctified have lodged\n    Till the last trumpet; for charitable prayers,\n    Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.\n\nThe flints and potsherds, Canon Green well remarks, \u201coccur at times in\nvery large quantities, the flints generally in the shape of mere\nchippings and waste pieces, but often as manufactured articles, such as\narrow points, knives, saws, drills and scrapers, etc.\u201d He further notes\nthat they are found distributed throughout the sepulchral mound, \u201cin\nsome instances in such quantities as to suggest the idea that the\npersons who were engaged in throwing up the barrow, scattered them from\ntime to time during the process.\u201d Assuredly whatever motive actuated\nthose who contributed such objects while the sepulchral mound was in\nprogress of erection, they were not designed as any slight to the manes\nof the dead. In districts remote from those where the flint abounds,\nflakes and chips of the prized material must have been in constant\ndemand to replenish the sheaf of arrows, and replace the lost or broken\nlance, knife, and scraper. The trader would barter the raw material for\nfurs and other equivalents, or the industrious miner would carry off an\nadequate supply for his own future use. Such small objects, possessing a\nuniversally appreciable value, would be as available for current change\nas the African cowrie, the Ioqua shells of the Pacific coast, or the\nwampum-beads of the tribes to the east of the Rocky Mountains. If this\nassumption be correct, the scattering of flint flakes, while the mound\nwas being piled over the grave, was a form of largess not less\nsignificant than any later tribute of reverence to the dead.\n\nThe sources whence such supplies of raw material of the old flint-worker\nwere derived, have been sufficiently explored to furnish confirmatory\nevidence of some, at least, of the deductions suggested by other\nindications thus far noted. The arch\u00e6ologists of Europe are now familiar\nwith many localities which have been the quarries and workshops, as well\nas the settled abodes, of pal\u00e6olithic and neolithic man; nor are such\nunknown in America, though research has to be greatly extended before\ndefinite conclusions can be accepted relative to the earliest presence\nof man on the western continent. Flint and stone implements of every\nvariety of form, and nearly every degree of rudeness, abound in the soil\nof the New World. But in estimating the true significance of such\nevidence, it has to be borne in remembrance that its indigenous\npopulation has not even now abandoned the arts of their Stone period.\nImplements have already been referred to still in use among the\nShoshone, Texas, and other living tribes, ruder than any yet recovered\nfrom the river-drift of France or England; whilst others, more nearly\nresembling the pal\u00e6olithic types of Europe, have been met with, some of\nthem imbedded in the rolled gravels, or glacial drift, and associated\nwith bones of the mastodon and other fossil mammals. But the evidence as\nto pal\u00e6olithic origin has been, at best, doubtful. An imperfect flint\nknife, now in the Museum of the University of Toronto, was recovered\nfrom a depth of upwards of fourteen feet, among rolled gravel and\ngold-bearing quartz of the Grinnel Leads in Kansas Territory. Flint\nimplements from the auriferous gravel of California were produced at the\nParis Exposition of 1855. According to the Geological Survey of Illinois\nfor 1866, stone axes and flint spear heads were obtained from a bed of\nlocal drift near Alton, underlying the loess, and at the same depth as\nbones of the mastodon. Similar discoveries have been repeatedly noted in\nSouthern States. The river Chattahoochee, in Georgia, in its course down\nthe Nacoochee valley, flows through a rich auriferous region. Explorers\nin search for gold have made extensive cuttings through the underlying\ndrift-gravel, down to the slate rock upon which it rests; and during one\nof these excavations, at a depth of nine feet, intermingled with the\ngravel and boulders of the drift, three large implements were found,\nnearly resembling the rude flint hatchets of the drift type. Examples of\nthis class, however, though repeatedly noted, have been too isolated to\nadmit of their use for any such comprehensive inductions as the\ndisclosures of the glacial drift of north-western Europe have justified.\nThe evidence hitherto adduced, when implements of this class have been\nof flint, has failed to establish their pal\u00e6olithic age, notwithstanding\ntheir recovery from ancient gravels. Implements of flint occur in great\nabundance throughout vast areas of the American continent. With the fact\nbefore us that even now the Stone period of its aborigines has not\nwholly passed away, careful observation is required in determining the\nprobable age of stray specimens buried even at considerable depths.\n\nBut disclosures of an actual American implement-bearing drift appear at\nlength to have been met with in the valley of the Delaware. These show\nthe primitive tool-maker resorting to a granular argillite, the cleavage\nof which adapted itself to the requirements of his rude art. Professor\nShaler, in a report on the age of the Delaware gravel beds, describes\nthis formation as occurring from Virginia northward to Labrador, though\nit is only in New Jersey and Delaware that the accompanying evidences of\nhuman art have been thus far recovered. The New Jersey drift is made up\nof transported material, including boulders and smaller fragments of\ngranitic, hypogene, sandstone, and limestone rocks, along with\nwater-worn pebbles of the same granular argillite as the characteristic\nstone implements recovered from it, to which, from their peculiar shape,\nthe name of \u201cturtle-back celts\u201d has been given. There is little true\nclay in the deposit to give coherence to the mass. The type of pebble is\nsubovate, or discoidal, suggesting its form to be due to the action of\nrunning water; and it seems probable that the stone was not quarried out\nof the living rock, but that the pebbles thus reduced to a convenient\nform were turned to account by the tool-maker. The researches of Dr.\nAbbott have been rewarded by the discovery in the drift-gravel of\nnumerous examples of this peculiar type of implement, for which the one\nmaterial appears to have been used, notwithstanding the varied contents\nof the drift-gravel in which they occur. As in the case of the French\nand English river-drift, the fractured material is found in every stage\nof disintegration. Professor Shaler says: \u201cAlong with the\nperfect-looking implements figured by Dr. Abbott, which are apparently\nas clearly artificial as the well-known remains of the valley of the\nSomme, there are all grades of imperfect fragments, down to the pebbles\nthat are without a trace of chipping.\u201d But more recent discoveries in\nthe Delaware valley point to remains of a still earlier age than those\ndescribed by Dr. Abbott. These naturally attracted attention to the\nregion; for there, for the first time, the American arch\u00e6ologist saw a\npromise of disclosures corresponding in character to those of the\nEuropean drift-gravels. A systematic and prolonged series of\ninvestigations accordingly carried out by Mr. Hilborne T. Cresson, under\nthe direction of the Peabody Museum, have resulted in fresh disclosures\nof early American man. The Naaman\u2019s Creek rock-shelter, carefully\nexplored by him, is situated in the State of Delaware, immediately to\nthe south of Mason and Dixon\u2019s line. There in underlying deposits,\nclaimed to be of Post-Glacial age, rudely chipped points and other\nimplements, all of argillite, were found; and at a higher level, others\nof argillite, but intermingled with bone implements, and fragments of\nrude pottery, and alongside of these, implements fashioned of quartzite\nand jasper. The antiquity assigned to the Delaware implements, as\ndetermined by the age of the tool-bearing gravel, is much greater than\nthat of the Trenton gravels previously referred to; but though remains\nof fifteen different species of animals, including fragments of a human\nskull, were recovered from the cave or rock-shelter, they include none\nbut existing fauna. But the evidence of antiquity is based most\nconfidently on the discovery of pal\u00e6oliths _in situ_ in the true\nPhiladelphia red gravel. Professor G. F. Wright remarks, in discussing\nthe relative ages of the Trenton and Philadelphia red gravel, that both\nhe and Professor Lewis came to the same conclusion: assigning the\ndeposition of the red gravel to a period when the ice had its greatest\nextension, and when there was considerable local depression of the land.\n\u201cDuring this period of greatest ice-extension and depression, the\nPhiladelphia Red Gravel and Brick Clay were deposited by the ice-laden\nfloods which annually poured down the valley in the summer season. As\nthe ice retreated towards the headwaters of the valley, the period was\nmarked also by a re-elevation of the land to about its present height,\nwhen the later deposits of gravel at Trenton took place. Dr. Abbott\u2019s\ndiscoveries at Trenton prove the presence of man on the continent at\nthat stage of the Glacial epoch. Mr. Cresson\u2019s discoveries prove the\npresence of man at a far earlier stage. How much earlier will depend\nupon our interpretation of the general facts bearing on the question of\nthe duality of the Glacial epoch,\u201d[25]\u2014a branch of the inquiry which it\nis not necessary to discuss here. It is sufficient to note that this\nargillite\u2014an altogether inferior material to the flint, or hornstone of\nlater tool-makers,\u2014appears, thus far, to be a characteristic feature of\nAmerican pal\u00e6olithic art. The locality of the native rock is still\nundetermined; but implements fashioned of it have been found in great\nnumbers along the escarpments facing the river Delaware. Professor\nShaler describes the material as a curious granular argillite, the like\nof which, he says, \u201cI do not know in place.\u201d Should the native rock be\nhereafter identified, with traces of the manufactured celts in its\nvicinity, it may help to throw light on the age and history of the\nprimitive American implement-makers.\n\nThe flint of the cretaceous deposits does not occur in America. True\nchalk is all but unknown among the cretaceous strata of the continent,\nalthough it has been found in the form of a somewhat extensive bed in\nWestern Kansas. In Texas, the cretaceous limestones contain in places\nhornstone nodules distributed through them, like the flint nodules in\nthe upper chalk beds of Europe. But though, so far, differing in origin,\nthe hornstone and flint are practically identical; and the chert, or\nhornstone, which abounds in the chert-layers of the corniferous\nformation, of common occurrence in Canada, is simply a variety of flint,\nconsisting essentially, like the substance to which that name is\nspecifically applied, of amorphous silica, and with a similar cleavage.\nThis Devonian formation is made up chiefly of limestone strata, parted\nin many places by layers of chert which vary in thickness from half an\ninch to three or four inches. The limestones are more or less\nbituminous, and frequently contain chert nodules. Most of their fossils\nare silicified. The formation underlies a considerable portion of\nSouth-western Ontario. Out-crops occur at Port Dover, Port Colborne,\nKincardine, Woodstock, St. Mary\u2019s, and other localities. At a point\nwhich I have explored more than once near Port Dover, implements occur\nin considerable numbers, along with fractured or imperfect specimens,\nmingled with flakes and chippings, evidently indicative of a spot where\ntheir manufacture was carried on. At this, and some others of the\nlocalities here named, Canadian flint pits may be looked for. Among\nother objects illustrative of primitive native arts in the Museum of the\nUniversity of Toronto, is a block of flint or brown chert, from which\nflakes have been struck off for the use of the native arrow-maker. This\nflint core was found in a field on Paisley Block, in Guelph Township,\nalong with a large flake, a scraper, and fourteen arrow heads of various\nsizes, all made from the same material. Alongside of them lay a flint\nhammer-stone bearing marks of long use. All of those objects are now in\nthe University Museum, and appear to indicate the site of an aboriginal\nworkshop, with one of the tools of the ancient arrow-maker, who there\nfashioned his implements and weapons, and traded with them to supply the\nneed of the old Huron or Petun Indians of Western Canada. The Spider\nIslands in Lake Winnipeg, near its outlet, have been noted by Dr. Robert\nBell, as a favourite resort of the old workers in flint, where they\ncould trade the products of their industry with parties of Indians\npassing in their canoes. \u201cI have found,\u201d he says, \u201ca considerable number\nof new flint implements, all of one pattern, in a grave near one of\nthose sites of an old factory\u201d; the body of a man\u2014presumably the old\narrow-maker,\u2014had been buried there in a sitting posture, surrounded\nwith the latest products of his industrious skill.\n\nIn 1875 I devoted several weeks to a careful study of some of the\nprincipal groups of ancient earthworks in the Ohio valley, and visited\nFlint Ridge to examine a group of native flint pits in the old Shawnee\nterritory. The Shawnees were formerly a numerous and powerful tribe of\nIndians; but they took part, in 1763, in the conspiracy of Pontiac, and\nwere nearly exterminated in a battle fought in the vicinity of their old\nquarries. From these it is probable that the older race of\nMound-Builders of the Ohio valley procured the material from which they\nmanufactured many of their implements, including some of those used in\nthe construction of their great earthworks.\n\nFlint Ridge, as the locality is called, a siliceous deposit of the\nCarboniferous age, extends through the State of Ohio, from Newark to New\nLexington. It has been worked at various points in search of the prized\nmaterial; and the ancient pits can still be recognised over an extensive\narea by the funnel-shaped hollows, or slighter depressions where the\naccumulated vegetable mould of many winters has nearly effaced the\ntraces of the old miners. The chert, or hornstone, of this locality\naccords with that from which the implements recovered from the mounds\nappear to have been chiefly made. One fact which such disclosures place\nbeyond doubt, namely, that the so-called Mound-Builders had not advanced\nbeyond the stage of flint or stone implements, is of great significance.\nTheir numbers are proved by the extent of their earthworks in many\nlocalities in the Ohio valley; and the consequent supply of implements\nneeded by them as builders must have involved a constant demand for the\nflint-miners and tool-makers. The great earthworks at Newark are among\nthe most extensive structures of this class, covering an area of several\nmiles, and characterised by the perplexing element of elaborate\ngeometrical figures, executed on a gigantic scale by a people still in\nthe primitive stage of stone implements, and yet giving proof of skill\nfully equalling, in the execution of their geometrical designs, that of\nthe scientific land-surveyor. On this special aspect of the question, it\nmay be well to revert to notes written immediately after a careful\nsurvey of the Newark earthworks, so as to suggest more clearly their\nextent and the consequent number of workmen and of tools in demand for\ntheir execution. The sacred enclosures have to be classed apart from the\nmilitary works of the Mound-Builders. Their elaborate fortifications\noccupy isolated heights specially adapted for defence, whereas the broad\nriver-terraces have been selected for their religious works. There, on\nthe great unbroken levels, they form groups of symmetrical enclosures,\nsquare, circular, elliptical, and octagonal, connected by long parallel\navenues, suggesting analogies with the British Avebury, the Breton\nCarnac, or even with the temples and sphinx-avenues of the Egyptian\nKarnak and Luxor; but all wrought of earth, with the simple tools made\nfrom quartzite, chert, or hornstone, derived from quarries and flint\npits, such as those of Flint Ridge, the localities of which have been\nidentified.\n\nFor a time the tendency among American arch\u00e6ologists was to exaggerate\nthe antiquity of those works, and to overestimate the artistic skill of\ntheir builders. But it now appears that some vague memories of the race\nhave been perpetuated. The traditions of the Delawares preserved the\nremembrance of the Talligew or Tallegewi, a powerful nation whose\nwestern borders extended to the Mississippi, over whom they, in\nconjunction with the fierce warrior race of Wyandots or Iroquois,\ntriumphed. The old name of the Mound-Builders is believed to survive, in\nmodified form, in that of the Alleghany Mountains and River; and the\nChatta-Muskogee tribes, including the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and\nother southern Indians of the same stock, are supposed to represent the\nancient race. The broad fertile region stretching southward from the\nAppalachian Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico must have attracted settlers\nfrom earliest times. It was latterly occupied by various tribes of this\nChatta-Muskogee stock; but intermingled with others speaking essentially\ndifferent languages, and supposed to be the descendants of the older\noccupants of the region on whom the Tallegewi intruded when driven out\nof the Ohio valley. The Cherokees preserved a tradition of having come\nfrom the upper Ohio. They have been classed by the Washington\nethnologists as a distant branch of the Iroquois stock; but Mr. Hale,\nfinding their grammar mainly Huron-Iroquois, while their vocabulary is\nlargely derived from another source, ingeniously infers that one portion\nof the despairing Talligewi may have cast in their lot with the\nconquering race, as the Tlascalans did with the Spaniards in their war\nagainst the Aztecs. Driven down the Mississippi till they reached the\ncountry of the Choctaws, they, mingling with friendly tribes, became the\nfounders of the Cherokee nation. Among the older native tribes were the\nCatawbas and the Natchez. They were sun-worshippers, maintained a\nperpetual fire, and regarded the great luminary as a goddess, and the\nmother of their race. It is probable that in their religious rites some\nmemory survived of the more elaborate worship of the old occupants of\nthe Ohio valley; for the Natchez claimed that in their prosperity they\nnumbered five hundred towns, and their northern borders extended to the\nOhio.\n\nDe Soto traversed the Chatta-Muskogee region, when, in 1540, he\ndiscovered the Mississippi. He found there a numerous population lodged\nin well-constructed dwellings, and with their council-houses surmounting\nlofty mounds. De Soto and later travellers noted their extensive fields\nof maize, beans, squashes, and tobacco, and their well-finished flint\nimplements. They were Mound-Builders; and though no longer manifesting\nin extended geometrical earthworks the special characteristic of the old\nrace, it is assumed that in them we recover traces of the vanished\npeople of the Ohio valley.\n\nWith this assignment of the Mound-Builders to an affinity with Indian\nnations still represented by existing tribes, the vague idea of some\nstrange prehistoric American race of remote antiquity vanishes; and the\nlatter tendency has been rather to underestimate their distinctive\npeculiarities. Some of these seem to separate them from any Indian tribe\nof which definite accounts have been preserved; and foremost among them\nis the evidence of comprehensive design, and of scientific skill in the\nconstruction of their sacred enclosures. The predominant impression\nsuggested by the great military earthworks of the Mound-Builders is that\nof a people co-operating under the guidance of approved leaders, with a\nview to the defence of large communities. Elaborate fortifications are\nerected on well-chosen hills or bluffs, and strengthened by ditches,\nmounds, and complicated approaches; but the lines of earthwork are\neverywhere adapted to the natural features of the site. The sacred\nenclosures are, on the contrary, constructed on the level river-terraces\nwith elaborate artificiality of design, but on a scale of magnitude not\nless imposing than that of the largest hill-forts. On first entering the\ngreat circle at Newark, and looking across its broad trench at the lofty\nembankment overshadowed with tall forest trees, my thoughts reverted to\nthe Antonine vallum, which by like evidence still records the presence\nof the Roman masters of the world in North Britain 1700 years ago. But\nafter driving over a circuit of several miles, embracing the remarkable\nearthworks of which that is only a single feature, and satisfying myself\nby personal observation of the existence of parallel avenues which have\nbeen traced for nearly two miles and of the grand oval, circles, and\noctagon, the smallest of which measures upwards of half a mile in\ncircumference, all idea of mere combined labour is lost in the higher\nconviction of manifest skill, and even science. The octagon indeed is\nnot a perfect figure. Its angles are not coincident, but the sides are\nvery nearly equal; and the enclosure approaches so closely to an\naccurate figure that its error is only demonstrated by actual survey.\nConnected with it by parallel embankments 350 feet long, is a true\ncircle, measuring 2880 feet in circumference; and distant nearly a mile\nfrom this, but connected with it by an elaborate series of earthworks,\nis the great circular structure previously referred to. Its actual form\nis an ellipse; the different diameters of which are 1250 feet and 1150\nfeet respectively; and it encloses an area of upwards of 30 acres. At\nthe entrance the enclosing embankment curves outward on either side for\na distance of 100 feet, leaving a level way between the ditches, 80 feet\nwide, and at this point it measures about 30 feet from the bottom of the\nditch to the summit. The area of the enclosure is almost perfectly\nlevel, so that during rain-floods the water stands at a uniform height\nnearly to the edge of the ditch.\n\nThe skulls of the Mound-Builders have been appealed to for indications\nof the intellectual capacity of the ancient race; but mounds and\nearthworks were habitually resorted to at long subsequent dates as\nfavourite places of interment; so that skulls derived from modern graves\nare ascribed to the ancient race; and much difficulty has been found in\nagreeing on a typical mound skull. Even after making allowance for\nmodifications due to artificial malformation, and eliminating those\nderived from superficial interments, a very noticeable diversity is\nfound in the comparatively few undoubtedly genuine mound skulls, which\nmay lend some countenance to the idea of the presence of two essentially\ndistinct races among the ancient settlers in the Ohio valley.[26] It\nseems to accord with the unmistakable traces of intellectual progress of\na kind foreign to the attainments of any known race of the North\nAmerican continent, thus found in association with arts and methods of\nwork not greatly in advance of those of the Indian savage. The only\nsatisfactory solution of the problem seems to present itself in the\nassumption of the existence among them of a theocratic order, like the\npriests of ancient Egypt, the Brahmins of India, or the Incas of Peru,\nunder whom the vanished race of the Ohio valley\u2014Tallegewi, Muskogees,\nNatchez, Alleghans, or other American aborigines,\u2014executed their vast\ngeometrical earthworks with such mathematical accuracy.\n\nThe contents of the earthworks of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys show\nthat the copper, found in a pure metallic condition at various points\naround Lake Superior, was not unknown to their constructors. But in this\nthey had little advantage over the Iroquois and Algonkin tribes, in\nwhose grave mounds copper axes and spear heads occasionally occur. It is\neven possible that working parties were despatched from time to time to\nthe ancient copper mines on the Kewenaw peninsula, on Lake Superior, to\nbring back supplies of the prized malleable rock, which could be bent\nand hammered into shape in a way that no other stone was susceptible of.\nBut the labours of the native miners were inadequate to provide supplies\nthat could in any degree suffice to displace the flint or quartzite of\nthe implement-maker. One use, however, has been suggested for the\ncopper, in relation to the labours of the flint-workers. Mr. George\nErcol Sellers, whose researches among the workshops of the ancient\ntool-makers have thrown much light on their processes, was led, from\ncareful observation of some of their unfinished work, to the opinion\nthat copper was in special request in the operations of the\nflint-flaker. After referring to the well-known use of horn or\nbone-flakers, he thus proceeds: \u201cFrom the narrowness of the cuts in some\nof the specimens, and the thickness of the stone where they terminate, I\nhave inclined to the belief that, at the period they were made, the\naborigines had something stronger than bone to operate with, as I have\nnever been able to imitate some of their deep heavy cuts with it; but I\nhave succeeded by using a copper point, which possesses all the\nproperties of the bone, in holding to its work without slipping, and has\nthe strength for direct thrust required.\u201d[27] No copper tool, however,\nwas recovered by Mr. Sellers among the vast accumulations of implements\nand waste chips, hereafter described, on the sites of the ancient\nworkers\u2019 industrious operations, though some of those found elsewhere\nmay have been used for such a purpose.\n\nThe evidence that the ancient dwellers in the Ohio valley were still in\ntheir Stone age is indisputable. But to a people apparently under the\nguidance of an order or cast far in advance of themselves in some\nimportant branches of knowledge, and by whom the utility of the metals\nwas beginning to be discerned\u2014though they had not yet mastered the\nfirst step in metallurgy by the use of fire,\u2014their speedy advance\nbeyond the neolithic stage was inevitable. But an open valley,\naccessible on all sides, was peculiarly unfavourable for the first\ntransitional stage of a people just emerging from barbarism. Their\nnumbers, it is obvious, were considerable; and agriculture must have\nbeen carried out on a large scale to furnish the means of subsistence\nfor a settled community. They had entered on a course which, if\nunimpeded, must have inevitably tended to develop the higher elements of\nsocial life and political organisation. But their duration as a settled\ncommunity appears to have been brief. Some faint tradition of the\nirruption of the northern barbarians of the New World survives. The\nIroquois, that indomitable race of savage warriors, swept through the\nvalley with desolating fury; the dawn of civilisation on the northern\ncontinent of America was abruptly arrested; and the present name of the\ngreat river along the banks and on the tributaries of which the\nmemorials of the Tallegewi abound, is one conferred on it by their\nsupplanters, who were equally successful in thwarting the aims of France\nto introduce the higher forms of European civilisation there.\n\nSome singularly interesting information relative to the traces of the\nancient flint-workers in the Ohio valley, is furnished by Mr. Sellers.\nHis observations were made when that region still remained, to a large\nextent, undisturbed by civilised intruders on the deserted Indian\nsettlements. He notes many places along the banks of the Ohio and its\ntributaries, at an elevation above the spring floods except at rare\nintervals of violent freshets, where the flaking process of the old\nflint-workers had been extensively carried on, and where cores and waste\nchips abound. \u201cAt one of those places, on the Kentucky side of the\nriver,\u201d he says, \u201cI found a number of chert blocks, as when first\nbrought from the quarry, from which no regular flakes had been split;\nsome had a single corner broken off as a starting-point. On the sharp\nright-angled edge of several I found the indentations left by small\nflakes having been knocked off, evidently by blows, as a preparation for\nseating the flaking tool. Most of the localities referred to are now\nunder cultivation. Before being cleared of the timber and subjected to\nthe plough, no surface relics were found, but on the caving and wearing\naway of the river banks, many spear and arrow heads and other stone\nrelics were left on the shore. After the land had been cleared, and the\nplough had loosened the soil, one of the great floods that occur at\nintervals of some fifteen or twenty years, would wash away the loose\nsoil, leaving the great flint workshops exposed.\u201d There, accordingly, he\nnotes among the materials thus brought to light, the cores or nuclei\nthrown aside, caches stored with finished and unfinished implements and\nflakes, the tools and wastage, vast accumulations of splinters, etc.,\nall serving to illustrate the processes of the ancient flint-workers.\n\nThe depth at which some accumulations occur, overlaid by the growth of\nthe so-called primeval forest, points to them as contemporary with, if\nnot in some cases older than, the earthworks of the Mound-Builders. The\nextent, indeed, to which some are overlaid by subsequent accumulations\nsuggests a remote era. In 1853 Mr. Sellers first visited the site of one\nof those ancient work-yards, on the northern bank of the Saline river,\nabout three miles above its junction with the Ohio. The region was then\ncovered with dense forest, with the exception of a narrow strip along\nthe bank of the river, which had been cleared in connection with\nrecently opened coal works. But at a later date, in sinking a cistern,\nabout 200 yards from the river bank, the excavation was made through a\nmass of flint chips. Subsequently heavy rains, after ploughing, exposed\nsome spears and arrow points. \u201cBut it was not until the great flood of\nthe winter of 1862 and 1863 that overflowed this ridge three or four\nfeet with a rapid current, that the portion under cultivation on the\nriver bank was denuded, exposing over six acres of what at first\nappeared to be a mass of chips or stone rubbish, but amongst it were\nfound many hammer-stones, celts, grooved axes, cores, flakes, almost\ninnumerable scrapers and other implements, and many tynes from the buck\nor stag, all of which bore evidence of having been scraped to a point.\nOn exposure to the air they fell to pieces.\u201d The actual site of the\nquarry appears to have been subsequently identified. \u201cThe greater number\nof cores, scattered flakes, finished and unfinished implements, are of\nthe chert from a depression in a ridge three miles to the south-east,\nwhere there are abundant indications of large quantities having been\nquarried.\u201d But the same great work-yard of the ancient Mound-Builders\nfurnished evidence of other sources of supply. Mr. Sellers noted the\nfinding \u201ca few cores of the white chert from Missouri, and the red and\nyellow jasper of Kentucky and Tennessee,\u201d but he adds, \u201cthe flakes of\nthese have mostly been found in nests or small caches, many of which\nhave been exposed; and in every case the flakes they contained were more\nor less worked on their edges; whereas the flakes from the neighbouring\nchert preserved their sharp edges as when split from the mass. These\ncache specimens with their worked serrated edges would, if found singly,\nbe classed as saws or cutting implements. But here where found in mass,\nevidently brought from a distance, to a place where harder chert of a\nmuch better character for cutting implements abounds, they tell a\ndifferent story.\u201d The material was better adapted for the manufacture of\ncertain classes of small implements much in demand, and the serrated\nedge is simply the natural result of the mode of working of this species\nof chert and of the jasper.\n\nThe fine-grained quartzite was also in request, especially for the\nmanufacture of the largest class of implements, including hoes and\nspades, equally needed by the primitive agriculturist, and by the\nnavvies to whose industrious toil the vast earthworks of the Ohio valley\nare due. The site of the old quartzite quarry appears to be about eight\nmiles from the banks of Saline river; but there are many other\nlocalities scattered over the region extending from southern Illinois to\nthe Mississippi, where the same substitute for chert or hornstone\noccurs. Some of the quartzite hoes or spades measure sixteen inches in\nlength, with a breadth of from six to seven inches, and evince\nremarkable dexterity and skill in their manufacture. Here, accordingly,\nit becomes apparent that there was a time in the history of this\ncontinent, before its existence was revealed to the race that now\npeoples the Ohio valley, when that region was the scene of busy native\nindustry; and its manufacturers quarried and wrought the chert, jasper,\nand quartzite, and traded the products of their skill over an extensive\nregion. But the germs of an incipient native civilisation were trodden\nout by the inroads of savage warriors from the north; and the towns and\nvillages of the industrious community were replaced by what appeared to\nLa Salle, the discoverer and first explorer of Ohio river, as the\nprimeval forest.\n\nIt throws an interesting light on the industrial processes of the\nancient flint-workers to learn that, even in a region where the useful\nchert abounded, they went far afield in search of other materials\nspecially adapted for some classes of implements. They were\nunquestionably a settled community, in a higher stage than any of the\ntribes found in occupation of that or any neighbouring region when first\nvisited by Europeans. But many tribes, both of the Northern and Southern\nStates, habitually travelled far distances to the sea coast, where still\nthe ancient shell mounds attest their presence. The routes thus annually\npursued by the Indians of the interior of Pennsylvania, for example,\nwere familiar to the early surveyors, and some of their trails\nundoubtedly marked the footprints of many generations. In traversing\nthose routes, as well as in their autumnal encampments on the coast,\nopportunities were afforded of selecting suitable materials for their\nimplements from localities remote from their homes. The lines of those\nold trails have accordingly yielded numerous examples of the wayfarers\u2019\nweapons and tools, as well as of unfinished implements. We are apt to\nthink of a people in their Stone period as merely turning to account\nmaterials lying as accessible to all as the loose stones employed as\nmissiles by the vagrant schoolboy. But such an idea is manifestly\ninapplicable, not only to the arts of communities like those by whom the\nearthworks of the Ohio valley were constructed, but to many far older\nworkers in flint or stone. The Indian arrow-maker and the pipe-maker, it\nis manifest, often travelled great distances for the material best\nsuited to their manufactures; and the use of flint or hornstone for\nslingstones, lance and arrow heads, as well as for knives, scrapers,\naxes, and other domestic and agricultural tools, must have involved a\nconstant demand for fresh supplies. It might be assumed, therefore,\napart from all direct evidence, that a regular system of quarrying for\nthe raw material both of the pipe and the implement-maker was pursued;\nand that by trade or barter the pipestone of divers qualities, and the\nchert or hornstone, the quartzite, jasper, and other useful minerals,\nwere thus furnished to tribes whose homesteads and hunting-grounds\nyielded no such needful supplies. But the same region which abounds in\nsuch remarkable evidences of the ingenious arts of a vanished race, also\nfurnishes traces of the old miners, by whose industry the flint was\nquarried and roughly chipped into available forms for transport to\ndistant localities, or for barter among the Mound-Builders in the region\ntraversed by the great river. At various points on Flint Ridge, Ohio,\nand localities far beyond the limits of that state, as at Leavenworth,\n300 miles south of Cincinnati, where the gray flint abounds, evidences\nof systematic quarrying illustrate the character and extent of this\nprimitive commerce. Funnel-shaped pits occur, in many cases filled up\nwith the accumulated vegetable mould of centuries, or only traceable by\na slight depression in the surface of the ground. When cleared out, they\nextend to a depth of from four or five, to nearly twenty feet. On\nremoving the mould, the sloping sides of the pit are found to be covered\nwith pieces of fractured flint, intermingled with unfinished or broken\nimplements, and with others partially reduced to shape. The largest hoes\nand spades hitherto noted appear to have been fashioned of quartzite,\nbut those of most common occurrence in Ohio and Kentucky are made of the\ngray flint or chert, which abounds in the Flint Ridge pits in blocks\namply sufficing for the manufacture of tools upwards of a foot in\nlength, such as may be assumed to have been employed in the construction\nof the great earthworks. But the transportation of the unwrought blocks\nof hornstone to the work-yards in the valley would have involved great\nlabour in the construction of roads, as well as of sledges or waggons\nsuited to such traffic. In lieu of this, the accumulated waste chips in\nthe quarries show the amount of labour that was expended there in order\nto facilitate the transport of the useful material. Suitable flakes and\nchips were no doubt also carried off to be turned to account for\nscrapers, knives, and other small implements. Partially shaped disks and\nother pieces of all sizes abound in the pits, but the finer\nmanipulation, by means of which small arrow heads, lances, drills,\nscrapers, etc., were fashioned, was reserved for leisure hours at home,\nand for the patient labour of the skilled tool-maker, for whose use the\nraw material was chiefly quarried.\n\nIn the tool-bearing drift of France and England the large characteristic\nflint implements occur in beds of gravel and clay abounding in flakes\nand chips in every stage of accidental fracture, to some of which M.\nBoucher de Perthes assigned an artificial origin and very fanciful\nsignificance. But if the pal\u00e6olithic flint-worker in any case quarried\nfor his material before the latest geological reconstruction of the beds\nof rolled gravel, the fractured flints may include traces of primeval\nquarrying as well as of the tool-maker\u2019s labours; for the rolled gravel\nbeds occur in river-valleys best adapted to the habitat of post-glacial\nman.\n\nIn a report furnished to the Peabody Museum of Arch\u00e6ology, by Mr. Paul\nSchumacher, he contributes some interesting evidence relative to the\nstone-workers of Southern California. The Indians of the Pacific coast,\nsouth of San Francisco, not only furnished themselves with chisels,\naxes, and the like class of implements, but with pots for culinary\npurposes, made of steatite, usually of a greenish-gray colour. In 1876,\nMr. Schumacher discovered various quarries of the old pot-manufacturers,\nwith their tools and unfinished articles lying there. The softer stone\nhad been used for pots, while the close-grained darker serpentine was\nchiefly employed in making the weights for digging sticks, cups, pipes,\nand ornaments. \u201cI was struck,\u201d he says, \u201con examining the locality\nthrough a field-glass, by the discovery of so many silver-hued mounds,\nthe debris of pits, the rock quarries and open-air workshops, so that I\nbelieved I had found the main factory of the ollas of the California\naborigines.\u201d[28] He also discovered the slate quarry, where the rock had\nbeen broken off in irregular blocks, from which pieces best adapted for\nchisels were selected and fashioned into the forms specially useful in\nmaking the steatite pots. A venerable Spanish lady told Mr. Schumacher\nthat she recollected her mother telling her how the Indians had brought\n_ollas_ in canoe-loads from the islands in Santa Barbara Channel to the\nmainland, and there exchanged them for such necessities as the islanders\nwere in need of. This tradition was subsequently confirmed by an old\nMexican guide. Similar evidence of systematic industry with the\naccompanying trade, or barter, meets the explorer at many points from\nthe Gulf of Mexico northward to beyond the Canadian lakes. The pyrul\u00e6\nfrom the Mexican Gulf are of frequent occurrence in northern ossuaries\nand grave mounds, while corresponding southern sepulchral deposits\ndisclose the catlinite of the Couteau des Prairies and the native copper\nof the Lake Superior mines. Obsidian is another prized material only to\nbe found _in situ_ in volcanic regions, but met with in manufactured\nforms in many diverse regions, remote from the obsidian quarries.\n\nThe routes of ancient traffic, determined in part by the geographical\ncontour of the regions through which they pass, are familiar to the\nhistorical students in the Old World. The ancient lines traversed by the\ntraders between the Persian Gulf and the Levant; the routes of caravans\nby way of the oases, across the centre of the Arabian peninsula to the\nRed Sea; the lines of access by road and river from the Baltic to the\nDanube; and from the British Isles and the North Sea, by the valley of\nthe Rhone, to the Mediterranean: are all indicated by a variety of\nevidence. The geography of Central Africa appears to have been familiar\nto the Arabian traders from remote ages. Similar well-trodden routes,\nand traverses by lake and river, are well known to the investigators of\nAmerican antiquity. The great trail across Pennsylvania to the\nMississippi; the route by the great lakes and by portage to the Hudson\nvalley, and so to the Atlantic; from Lake Ontario, by the Humber and\nLake Simcoe, to the Georgian Bay; from Lake Superior, by the\nMitchipicotten river, to the Hudson Bay; and by the Mississippi and its\ntributaries to the Gulf of Mexico: are all demonstrated by abundant\ntraces of the interchange of the products of widely severed regions, as\ndisclosed in ancient burial mounds, and deposits assignable to remote\nperiods and to long-extinct races. West of the Rocky Mountains the\ntrails from the Pacific coast to the interior, and through the passes of\nthat lofty range, have been recovered. Owing to the bold contours of the\nregion, in the abrupt descent from the western slope of the Rocky\nMountains to the Pacific, the routes of travel are more strictly defined\nby the physical geography of the country than in the long stretches of\nthe continent to the east of that mountain range. An interchange of\ncommodities between the tribes of the coast and the interior appears to\nhave been carried on from remote times. Dr. Dawson\u2019s own personal\nobservations in British Columbia have satisfied him that trading\nintercourse was prosecuted by the coast tribes with those of the\ninterior, along the Fraser River Valley; Bella Coola Valley, from head\nof Benetinck Arm; Skeena River; Stiking River; and Chilkoot Pass, from\nthe head of Lynn Canal. By the second of the above routes oolacten oil\nwas carried far into the interior; and the old trail leading from Bella\nCoola and Fraser river is chiefly associated by the inland Indians with\nthis traffic. The habitual traffic engendered by the local advantages of\nsome of the tribes on the northern Pacific coast has manifestly\ndeveloped some peculiarities which distinguish them from other Indians\nof the northern continent. The Bilqula, a people inhabiting a limited\ntract in the vicinity of Dean Inlet and Benetinck Arms, by reason of\ntheir geographical position have held command of the most important\nnatural pass and trade route from the ocean to the interior between the\nSkeena and the Fraser rivers, a distance of upwards of 400 miles. From\nremotest times embraced in the native traditions a route has been\ntraversed by way of the Bella Coola river, thence northward to the\nSalmon river, and then along the north side of the Blackwater river to\nthe Upper Fraser. Dentalium shells and other prized objects of barter\nwere carried over this route; but the article of chief value brought\nfrom the coast was the oil of the Oolacten or Candle Fish; and hence\nthis thoroughfare is commonly known among the Tinn\u00e9 of the interior as\nthe \u201cGrease Trail.\u201d\n\nAlong this and other long-frequented trails the broken implements, flint\nand obsidian chips, and other traces of the natives by whom they have\nbeen traversed, not only afford proof of their presence there, but at\ntimes disclose indications of the regions they have visited in going to\nor returning from the interior. Dr. G. M. Dawson informs me that, while\ntravelling along various Indian trails and routes in British Columbia,\nwest of Fraser river, and between lats. 52\u00b0 and 54\u00b0, chips and flakes of\nobsidian were not unfrequently observed. The Tinn\u00e9 Indians stated that\nthe material was obtained from a mountain near the headwaters of the\nSalmon river (about long. 125\u00b0 40\u2032, lat. 52\u00b0 40\u2032), which was formerly\nresorted to for the purpose of procuring this prized material. The\nIndian name of this mountain is _Bece_, and Dr. Dawson further notes the\nsuggestive fact that this word is the same with the Mexican (Aztec?)\nname for \u201cknife.\u201d Mr. T. C. Weston, of the Geological Survey, also\nnoted, in 1883, the finding of a flake of obsidian in connection with a\nlayer of buffalo-bones, occurring in alluvium, and evidently of\nconsiderable antiquity, near Fort M\u2019Leod, Alberta. The nearest source of\nsuch a material is the Yellowstone Park region. Those regions, it is\nobvious, were visited by native explorers, not merely to supply their\nown wants, but for the purpose of securing coveted objects available for\ntrade or barter. Dr. Dawson reports to me as the result of observations\nfounded on repeated visits to the region, in the work of the Geological\nSurvey: That all the coast tribes of British Columbia are born traders,\nand possess in a high degree the mental characteristics generally\nattributed to the Jews. Those holding possession of the above routes\nregarded trade with the neighbouring inland tribes as a valuable\nmonopoly, and were ready to fight for it. They also traded among\nthemselves, and certain localities were well known as the source of\ncommodities. Thus the Haida Indians regularly purchased oolacten oil\nfrom the Tshimsians, who caught the oolacten at the mouth of the Nass\nand Stiking rivers, giving in exchange cedar canoes, for the manufacture\nof which they were celebrated. Through the agency of the Tshimsians they\nalso procured from the inland Indians the large mountain sheep horns,\nfrom which they executed elaborately carved spoons and other implements.\nCumshewa, in Queen Charlotte Islands, was, again, noted for Indian\ntobacco, an undetermined native plant, which was an article of trade all\nalong the coast.\n\nCopper was not unknown to the native tribes on the Pacific coast, and\nrich supplies of the native metal appear to have been partially worked,\nby the tribes along the shores of Lake Superior from a remote date. The\nancient mines have been disclosed, in the process of turning their\nresources to account by the enterprise of civilised settlers; and\nabundant evidence has been recovered to show that the native copper of\nthe Keweenaw peninsula, Ontonagon, Isle Royale, and other points on Lake\nSuperior, was worked extensively by its ancient miners, and undoubtedly\nformed a valuable object of traffic throughout the region watered by the\nMississippi and its tributaries, and along the whole eastern routes to\nthe seaboard. But, with the imperfect resources of the native miners, it\nwas a costly rarity, procurable only in small quantities by barter with\nthe tribes settled on the shores of Lake Superior. Axe blades, spear\nheads, knives, gorgets, armlets, tubes and beads, all fashioned out of\nthe native copper solely with the hammer, have been recovered from\nancient grave mounds and ossuaries in the valleys of the St Lawrence,\nthe Hudson, the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their tributaries; and to the\nwest of the Rocky Mountains, copper implements again occur manufactured\nfrom metal derived from some native source on the Pacific slope. The\ncopper was, no doubt, recognised as a malleable rock, differing from all\nothers in its ductility, so that it could be fashioned, with the aid of\na hammer-stone, to any desired form. By this means the ancient miners of\nLake Superior provided themselves with the most suitable tools for their\nmining operations, and were probably the manufacturers of most of the\nwidely diffused copper implements. But for general purposes, both of\nindustry and war, American man had to be content with the more abundant\nchert, hornstone, and quartzite.\n\nThe source from whence the tribes on the Pacific obtained the coveted\nmetal has not yet been ascertained; but it was obviously procured only\nin small quantities, insufficient to be turned to account for economic\nuses. Among a curious collection of objects illustrative of the arts of\nthe Haida Indians, now in the Museum of the Geological Survey at Ottawa,\nis a large copper ring, or torque, which appears to have been handed\ndown for successive generations, from chief to chief, as a prized\nheirloom; and, it may be assumed, as a symbol of official rank. The\nring, or necklet, is composed of three twisted bars, or strands of\nhammered copper, each tapering at both ends, and is fashioned with\nremarkable skill, if due allowance be made for the imperfect tools of\nthe native artificer. This unique relic seems to show the accumulated\nmetallic wealth of the tribe fashioned into a symbol of official rank;\nnot improbably with mysterious virtues ascribed to it, which passed with\nit to its official custodian. A block of native copper now in the\nNational Museum at Washington is described by the P\u00e8re Charlevoix as a\nsacred object of veneration by the Indians of Lake Superior, on which a\nyoung maiden had been offered in sacrifice.[29] But it is beyond\nquestion that throughout the region north of the Mexican Gulf the native\nmanufacturer resorted mainly to the abundant hornstone, chert,\nquartzite, and the like materials of the Stone period. These were in\nuniversal demand, and must have been industriously collected in the\nlocalities where they abound, and disposed of by a regular system of\nexchange for furs, wampum, or other objects of barter. Mr W. H. Dall, in\nhis report on _The Tribes of the Extreme North-West_, notes the absence\nin the Aleutian Islands of any stone, such as serpentine, fit for making\nthe celts or adzes, recovered by him from the shell mounds. \u201cThey were,\u201d\nhe says, \u201cprobably imported from the continental Innuit at great cost,\nand very highly valued\u201d; and on a subsequent page he adds: \u201cThe\nintertribal traffic I have referred to is universal among the\nInnuit.\u201d[30]\n\nThe occurrence of well-stored caches in some of the ancient mounds of\nthe Ohio valley, as well as their repeated discovery in other\nlocalities, accords with the idea of systematised industrial labour, and\nthe storing away of the needful supplies for agricultural and domestic\noperations, and for war. Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their _Ancient\nMonuments of the Mississippi Valley_, describe one of the mounds opened\nby them within the great earthwork on the North Fork of Point Creek, in\nwhich, according to their estimate, about four thousand hornstone disks\nwere disposed in regular order, in successive rows overlapping each\nother. In 1864, I had an opportunity of examining some specimens\nretained in the possession of Dr. Davis. They were mostly disks\nmeasuring about six inches long and four wide, more or less oval, or\nbroad spear-shaped, and fashioned out of a fine gray flint with\nconsiderable uniformity of character. Mr. Squier assumed that the\ndeposit was a religious offering; but subsequent disclosures of a like\ncharacter confirm the probability that it was a hoard of material stored\nfor the tool-maker.[31]\n\nIn other, though rarer cases, the cache has been found containing\nfinished implements. In digging a cellar at Trenton, New Jersey, a\ndeposit of one hundred and twenty finished stone axes was brought to\nlight, at a depth of about three feet below the surface. Another\ndiscovery of a like character was made when digging for the construction\nof a receiving vault of the Riverview Cemetery, near Taunton; and\nsimilar deposits are recorded as repeatedly occurring in the same\nstate.[32] In two instances all the specimens were grooved axes. In\nanother, fifty porphyry celts were found deposited in systematic order.\nMr. Charles Rau has given the subject special attention, and in a paper\nentitled \u201cAncient Aboriginal Trade in North America,\u201d he furnishes\nevidence of addiction to certain manufactures, such as arrow heads, hoes\nand other digging tools, spear heads, chisels, etc., by skilled native\ncraftsmen.[33] Deposits closely corresponding to the one reported by Mr.\nSquier as the sole contents of one of the mounds, in \u201cClark\u2019s Work,\u201d\nOhio, have been subsequently discovered in Illinois, Wisconsin, and\nKentucky. One of the Illinois deposits contained about fifteen hundred\nleaf-shaped or rounded disks of flint arranged in five horizontal\nlayers. Another, said to have contained three thousand five hundred\nspecimens, was discovered at Fredericksburg, in the same state. A\nsmaller, but more interesting hoard was accidentally brought to light in\n1868, when some labourers in opening up a new street, at East St. Louis,\nin the same State of Illinois, came upon a collection of large flint\ntools all of the hoe and shovel type. There were about fifty of the\nformer and twenty of the latter, made of a yellowish-brown flint, and\nbetraying no traces of their having been used. Near by them lay several\nlarge unworked blocks of flint and greenstone, and many chippings and\nfragments of flint.[34] Deposits of a like character, but varying both\nin the number and diversity of their contents, and, in general, showing\nno traces of use, have been discovered in other states to the east of\nthe Mississippi. In the _Smithsonian Report_ for 1877, Mr Rau prints a\ncurious account of \u201cThe Stock in Trade of an Aboriginal Lapidary.\u201d In\nthe spring of the previous year Mr. Keenan presented to the National\nMuseum at Washington a collection of jasper ornaments, mostly\nunfinished, which had been found in Lawrence County, Mississippi. They\nwere brought to light in ploughing a cotton field, where a deposit was\nexposed, lying about two and a half feet below the natural surface. It\nincluded four hundred and sixty-nine objects, of which twenty-two were\nunwrought jasper pebbles; one hundred and one were beads of an elongated\ncylindrical shape, and a few of them partially perforated. Others were\nornaments of various forms, including two animal-shaped objects. The\nwhole were made of jasper of a red or reddish colour, occasionally\nvariegated with spots or streaks of pale yellow, but nearly all were in\nan unfinished state, and so fully bore out the idea of their being the\nstock in trade of some old native workman, who finished them in\nsufficient numbers to meet the demands of his customers.[35]\n\nFrom time to time fresh disclosures prove the extent to which such\nsystematic industry was carried on. The various collections thus brought\nto light were unquestionably the result of prolonged labour, and were,\nfor the most part, undoubtedly stored for purposes of trade. In some\ncases they may have been accumulated in the arsenal of the tribe in\nreadiness for war. But whether we recognise in such discoveries the\nstore of the trader, or the military arsenal, they indicate ideas of\nprovident foresight altogether distinct from the desultory labours of\nthe Indian savage in the preparation of his own indispensable supply of\nimplements for the chase or for war.\n\nBut there were also, no doubt, home-made weapons and implements,\nfashioned with patient industry out of the large rolled serpentine,\nchalcedony, jasper, and agate pebbles, gathered from the sea coast and\nriver beds, or picked up wherever they chanced to occur. When camping\nout on the Neepigon river, with Indian guides from the Saskatchewan, I\nobserved them carefully collecting pieces of a metamorphic rock,\nunderlying the syenite cliffs, which, I learned from one of them, was\nspecially adapted for pipes. This they would carry a distance of fully\n800 miles before reaching their lodges on the prairie. Dr. Robert Bell\ndescribed to me a pipe made of fine green serpentine, of a favourite\nChipewyan pattern, which he saw in the possession of an Indian on Nelson\nriver. Its owner resisted all attempts to induce him to part with it,\nassigning as a reason of its special value that it had been brought from\nReindeer Lake distant several hundred miles north of Frog Portage, on\nChurchill river. The diverse forms in which various tribes shape the\ntobacco pipe are highly characteristic. In some cases this is partly due\nto the texture and degrees of hardness of the material employed; but the\nrecovery of pipes of nearly all the very diverse tribal patterns, made\nfrom the beautiful catlinite, or red pipestone of the Couteau des\nPrairies, leaves little room for doubt that the stone was transported in\nrough blocks and bartered by its quarriers to distant tribes. This\nflesh-coloured rock has suggested the Sioux legend of its origin in the\nflesh of the antediluvian red men, who perished there in the great\ndeluge. It is soft, of fine texture, and easily wrought into minutely\nvaried forms of Indian art, and so was coveted by the pipe-makers of\nwidely severed tribes. Hence red pipestone pipes of many ingenious forms\nof sculpture have been recovered from grave mounds down the Mississippi,\neastward to the Atlantic seaboard, and westward beyond the Rocky\nMountains. This prized material appears to have circulated among all the\nPlain tribes. Pipes made of it were to be found in recent years\npreserved as cherished possessions among both the Sioux and the\nBlackfoot tribes. Dr. George M. Dawson found in 1874 part of an ancient\ncatlinite pipe on Pyramid Creek, about lat. 49\u00b0, long. 105\u00b0.\n\nA very different material was in use among the Assiniboin Indians,\nlimiting the art of the pipe sculptor to the simplest forms. It is a\nfine marble, much too hard to admit of minute carving, but susceptible\nof a high polish. This is cut into pipes of graceful form, and made so\nextremely thin as to be nearly transparent, so that when lighted the\nglowing tobacco presents a singular appearance in a dark lodge. Another\nfavourite stone is a coarse species of jasper, also too hard for any\nelaborate ornamentation. But the choice of materials is by no means\nlimited to those of the locality of the tribe. I have already referred\nto my Indian guides carrying away with them pieces of the pipestone rock\non Neepigon river; and Paul Kane, the artist, during his travels, when\non Athabaska river, near its source in the Rocky Mountains, observed his\nAssiniboin guides select a favourite bluish jasper from among the\nwater-worn stones in the bed of the river, to carry home for the purpose\nof pipe manufacture, although they were then fully 500 miles from their\nlodges.\n\nThe favourite material of the Chippewas was a dark, close-grained schist\nobtained at some points on Lake Huron. It is easily carved, and many of\ntheir pipes are decorated with groups of human figures and animals,\nexecuted with much spirit. Pabahmesad, an old Chippewa pipe-maker of\nunusual skill, pursued his craft on Great Manitoulin Island, on Lake\nHuron, in comparatively recent years. The peculiar style of his\ningenious carvings may be detected on pipes recovered from widely\nscattered localities, for his fame as a pipe sculptor was great. He was\ngenerally known among his people as _Pwahguneka_, the pipe-maker. He\nobtained his materials from the favourite resorts of different tribes,\nusing the black pipestone of Lake Huron, the white pipestone procured on\nSt. Joseph\u2019s Island, and the catlinite or red pipestone of the Couteau\ndes Prairies. But the most varied and elaborate in device of all the\npeculiar native types of pipe sculpture are those executed by the\nChimpseyan or Babeen and the Clalam Indians, of Vancouver Island and the\nneighbouring shores along Charlotte Sound. They are carved out of a soft\nblue claystone or slate, from which also bowls, platters, and other\nutensils are made, decorated with native legendary symbols and other\ndevices. But the most elaborate carving is reserved for their pipes,\nwhich are not less varied and fanciful in design than the details of\nNorman ecclesiastical sculpture. The same easily carved claystone was in\ngreat request among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands for\ntheir idols, and for ornamental gorgets and utensils of various kinds.\nThus the available materials of different localities are seen to modify\nthe forms alike of implements, weapons, and articles designed for\npersonal ornament or domestic use, and were sought for and transported\nto many distant points, with the same object as the tin and copper which\nplayed so important a part in the commercial exchanges of nations at the\ndawn of history.\n\nIn regions where flint or hornstone is not available, the quartzite\nappears to have been most commonly resorted to. I have in my possession\nsome spear heads measuring from seven to nine inches long, which were\ndug up on an old Indian trail at Point Oken, lying to the north of Lake\nSt. John, Quebec; and implements of the like material are common\nthroughout eastern Canada. The same widely diffused material was no less\nfreely resorted to by the tribes on the Pacific coast. The arrow heads\nfound throughout the Salish country of southern British Columbia are\nchiefly formed of quartzite, though chert is also used. The quartzite\noccurs in so many localities that it is difficult to trace its special\nsource. But near the east end of Marble Ca\u00f1on, and at the Big Bock\nSlide, about six miles above Spence\u2019s Bridge, on Thompson river, chips\noccur in considerable quantities, suggestive of one of the chosen\nlocalities resorted to for quarrying and manufacture.\n\nThe old arrow-makers evidently derived pleasure from the selection of\nattractive materials for some of their choicest specimens of handiwork.\nThe true crystalline quartz was prized for small arrow heads, some of\nwhich are equally pleasing in material, form, and delicacy of finish.\nBut the material most usually employed in eastern Canada, as well as\nthat previously referred to as in request by the old workers of the Ohio\nvalley for their largest implements, is a gneissoid rock of\ncomparatively common occurrence, which chips off with a broad facet when\nsharply struck, and leaves an acute edge and point. Mr. Seller\u2019s\nvaluable paper on the ancient workshops of Ohio and Pennsylvania also\ncontains an account of his own experience relative to the flaking and\nchipping of flint implements.[36] In this communication he remarks:\n\u201cMost of the arrow points found within my reach in Philadelphia,\nDelaware, and Chester Counties, Pennsylvania, were chipped from massive\nquartz, from the opaque white to semi-transparent, and occasionally\ntransparent.\u201d He further describes his first chance discovery of one of\nthe native work-places. He was in company with two scientific\nmineralogists, when, as he writes, \u201cwe came to a place where (judging\nfrom the quantities of flakes and chips) arrow points had been made.\nAfter much diligent search, only one perfect point was found. There were\nmany broken ones, showing the difficulty in working the material. Mr.\nLukins, a scientific mineralogist, collected a quantity of the best\nflakes to experiment with, and, by the strokes of a light hammer,\nroughed out one or two very rude imitations.\u201d Major J. H. Long traversed\nthe continent westward to the Rocky Mountains, as head of the United\nStates Military Topographical Department; and from him Mr. Sellers\nderived information of the habits of the rude western tribes long before\nthey had been brought into direct contact with any civilised settlers.\n\u201cHe said that flakes prepared for points and other implements seemed to\nbe an object of trade or commerce among the Indian tribes that he came\nin contact with; that there were but few places where chert or quartzite\nwas found of sufficient hardness, and close and even grain, to flake\nwell, and at those places there were men very expert at flaking.\u201d[37]\n\nMr. Sellers had known Catlin, the artist and traveller, in his youth,\nwhile he was still an expert worker in wood and ivory in the service of\nthe elder Catlin, a musical instrument maker in Philadelphia; and from\nhim he learned much relative to the modes of operation and the sources\nof material of the Indian workers in stone. \u201cHe considered making flakes\nmuch more of an art than the shaping them into arrow or spear points,\nfor a thorough knowledge of the nature of the stone to be flaked was\nessential, as a slight difference in its quality necessitated a totally\ndifferent mode of treatment. The principal source of supply for what he\ntermed home-made flakes was the coarse gravel bars of the rivers, where\nlarge pebbles are found. Those most easily worked into flakes for small\narrow points were chalcedony, jasper, and agate. Most of the tribes had\nmen who were expert at flaking, and who could decide at sight the best\nmode of working. Some of these pebbles would split into tolerably good\nflakes by quick and sharp blows, striking on the same point. Others\nwould break by a cross fracture into two or more pieces. These were\npreferred, as good flakes could be split from their clean fractured\nsurface, by what Mr. Catlin called \u2018impulsive pressure,\u2019 the tool used\nbeing a shaft or stick of between two and three inches in diameter,\nvarying in length from thirty inches to four feet, according to the\nmanner of using them. These were pointed with bone or buckhorn.\u201d It is\nthus apparent that among rude tribes of modern centuries, as in the\nprehistoric dawn, exceptional aptitude and skill found recognition as\nreadily as in any civilised community. There were the quarriers and the\nskilled workmen, on whose joint labours the whole community largely\ndepended for the indispensable supply of all needful tools.\n\nIn the summer of 1854, when civilisation had made very slight inroads on\nthe western wilderness, I visited a group of Chippewa lodges on the\nsouth-west shore of Lake Superior, where they still maintained many of\ntheir genuine habits. Their aged chief, Buffalo, was a fine specimen of\nthe uncorrupted savage, dressed in native attire, and wearing the collar\nof grizzly bear\u2019s claws as proof of his triumph over the fiercest object\nof the chase. Their weapons were partly of iron, derived from the\ntraders. But they had also their stone-tipped arrows; and one Indian was\nan object of interest to a group of Indian boys as he busied himself in\nfashioning a water-worn pebble into an edged tool. He held an oval\npebble between the finger and thumb, and used it with quick strokes as a\nhammer. But he was only engaged on the first rough process, and I did\nnot see the completion of his work. No doubt, the leisure of all was\nturned more or less to account in supplying themselves with their\nordinary weapons and missiles. But Catlin\u2019s free intercourse with the\nwild western tribes familiarised him with the regular sources of general\nsupply. \u201cThe best flakes,\u201d he said, \u201coutside of the homemade, were a\nsubject of commerce, and came from certain localities where the chert of\nthe best quality was quarried in sheets or blocks, as it occurs in\nalmost continuous seams in the intercalated limestones of the coal\nmeasures. These seams are mostly cracked or broken into blocks that show\nthe nature of the cross fracture, which is taken advantage of by the\noperators, who seemed to have reduced the art of flaking to almost an\nabsolute science, with division of labour; one set of men being expert\nin quarrying and selecting the stone, others in preparing the blocks for\nthe flakers.\u201d[38] But suitable and specially prized material were\nsometimes sought on different sites, and disseminated from them by the\nprimitive trader. Along eastern Labrador and in Newfoundland arrow heads\nare mostly fashioned out of a peculiar light-gray translucent quartzite.\nDr. Bell informs me that near Chimo, south of Ungava Bay, is a spot\nresorted to by the Indians from time immemorial for this favourite\nmaterial; and arrows made of it are not uncommon even in Nova Scotia.\nAmong the tribes remote from the sea coast, where no exposed rock\nfurnished available material for the manufacture of their stone\nimplements, the chief source of supply was the larger pebbles of the\nriver beds. From these the most suitable stones were carefully selected,\nand often carried great distances. Those most easily worked into flakes\nfor small arrow heads are chalcedony, jasper, agate, and quartz; and the\nfiner specimens of such weapons are now greatly prized by collectors.\nThe coast tribes both of the Atlantic and the Pacific found similar\nsources of supply of the stones best suited for their implements in the\nrolled gravel of the beach, and this appears to have been the most\nfrequent resort of the Micmacs and other tribes of the Canadian Maritime\nProvinces.\n\nI have already referred to information derived from Dr. G. M. Dawson and\nDr. Robert Bell, to both of whom I have been indebted for interesting\nresults of their own personal observations as members of the Canadian\nGeological Survey. Collectors are familiar with the elongated flat\nstones, with two or more holes bored through them, variously styled\ngorgets, implements for fashioning sinew into cord, etc. They are made\nof a grayish-green clay slate, with dark streaks; and the same material\nis used in the manufacture of personal ornaments, ceremonial objects,\nand occasionally for smooth spear heads and knives. Relics fashioned of\nthis peculiar clay slate are found throughout Ontario, from Lakes Huron\nand Erie to the Ottawa valley. A somewhat similar stone occurs in situ\nat various points, but Dr. Bell believes he has satisfactorily\nidentified the ancient quarry at the outlet of Lake Temagamic, nearly\n100 miles north of Lake Nipissing. No clay slate procured from any other\nlocality corresponds so exactly to the favourite material. The site is\naccessible by more than one canoe route; and quantities of the rock from\ndifferent beds lie broken up in blocks of a size ready for\ntransportation. Dr. Bell found on the shore of Lake Temissaming a large\nunfinished spear head, chipped out of this clay slate, and ready for\ngrinding. When the region is settled and the land cleared, sites will\nprobably be discovered where the aboriginal exporters reduced the rough\nblocks to forms convenient for transport.\n\nDr. Bell has described to me specimens of narrow and somewhat long spear\npoints, of local manufacture, made from smoky chert found on or near the\nAthabaska, in Mackenzie river basin; and an arrow head of brown flint\nfrom the mouth of Churchill river, Hudson Bay. The flint implements of\nRainy river and Lake of the Woods are of brownish flint and chert, such\nas are found in the drift all over the region to the south-westward of\nHudson Bay; and are mostly derived from the Devonian rocks. Worn pebbles\nof this kind occur in the drift as far south as Lake Superior. A branch\nof Kinogami river is called by the Indians Flint river (_Pewona sipi_)\nfrom the abundance of the favourite material they find in the river\ngravel and shingle. The finest flint implements of Canada are those of\nthe north shore of Lake Huron, made from material corresponding to a\nvery fine-grained quartzite, approximating to chalcedony, found among\nthe Huronian rocks of that region.\n\nAlong the western coast of the Province of Nova Scotia a high ridge of\ntrap rock extends, with slight interruption, from Briar Island to Cape\nBlomidon. Here the strong tidal rush of the sea undermines the cliff,\nand the winter frosts split it up, so that every year the shore is\nstrewn with broken fragments from the cliff, exposing a variety of\ncrystalline minerals, such as jasper, agate, etc. The beach gravel is\nalso interspersed with numerous rounded pebbles derived originally from\nthe same source. I am indebted to Mr. George Patterson, of New Glasgow,\nN.S., for some interesting notes on this subject. The pebbles of this\nbeach seem to have been one of the chief sources of supply for the\nIndian implement-makers of Nova Scotia. Few localities have hitherto\nbeen noticed in the Maritime Provinces marked by any such large\naccumulation of chips as would suggest the probability of manufacture\nfor the purpose of trade; though chips and finished implements\noccasionally occur together on the sites of Indian villages or\nencampments, suggestive of individual industry and home manufacture. But\nMr. Patterson informs me that one place at Bauchman\u2019s Beach, in the\ncounty of Lunenburg, furnishes abundant traces of an old native\nworkshop. There, until recently, could be gathered agate, jasper, and\nother varieties of the fine-grained crystalline minerals from the trap,\nsometimes in nodules, rounded and worn, as they occur at the base of the\nocean-washed cliffs. At times they showed partial traces of working; but\nmore frequently they were split and broken, bearing the unmistakable\nmarks of the hammer. Along with those were cores and large quantities of\nflakes, or chips, with arrow heads, more or less perfectly formed. At\none time they might have been gathered in large quantities; but recent\ninroads of the sea have swept away much of the old beach, and strewed\nthe products of the Indian stone-workers where they may be stored for\nthe wonder of men of other centuries. It is curious, indeed, to reflect\non the memorials of ages so diverse from those with which the\npal\u00e6ontologist deals, that are now accumulating in the submarine strata\nin process of formation, for the instruction of coming generations,\nshould our earth last so long. The world will, doubtless, have grown\nwiser before that epoch is reached. But it will require some\ndiscrimination, even in so enlightened an age, to read aright the\nsignificance of this mingling of relics of rudest barbarism with all the\nproducts of modern civilisation that are being strewn along the great\nocean highways between the Old and the New World.\n\nA curious illustration of the possible confusion of evidence is shown by\nthe discovery in 1884 of a large stone lance head of the Eskimo type,\ndeeply imbedded in the tissues of a whale taken at the whaling station\non Ballast Point, near the harbour of San Diego, California.[39] In the\nMuseum of the University of Edinburgh is the skeleton of a whale,\nstranded in the ancient estuary of the Forth in a prehistoric age, when\nthe ocean tides reached the site which had been elevated into dry land\nlong ages before the Roman invaders of Caledonia made their way over it.\nAlongside of the buried whale lay a rude deerhorn implement of the old\nCaledonian whaler; and had the San Diego whale sunk in deep waters off\nthe Pacific coast, it would have perpetuated a similar memorial of\nrudest savage life, in close proximity, doubtless, to evidences of\nmodern civilisation. Such, though in less striking form, is the process\nof intermingling the arts of the American Stone age with products of\nmodern skill and refinement, that is now in progress off the Lunenburg\ncoast of Nova Scotia. The inroads of the sea have not, however, even now\neffaced all traces of the old arrow-makers of Bauchman\u2019s Beach.\nSpecimens of their handiwork may still be gathered along the shore. To\nthis locality it is obvious that the inland tribes resorted from remote\nIndian villages for some of their most indispensable supplies.\nImplements of the same materials also occur at sites on the northern\ncoast; but the larger number found there are made of quartzite, felsite,\nor of hard, slaty stone, such as occurs in the metamorphic rocks of the\nmountain ranges in the interior of the Province.\n\nFrom what has thus been set forth, some general inferences of a\ncomprehensive character are suggested. It is scarcely open to doubt that\nat a very early stage in the development of primitive mechanical art,\nthe exceptional aptitude of skilled workmen was recognised and brought\ninto use for the general benefit. Co-operation and some division of\nlabour in the industrial arts, necessary to meet the universal demand\nfor tools and weapons, appear also to have been recognised from a very\nremote period in the social life of the race. There were the quarriers\nfor the flint, the obsidian, the shale, the pipestones, the favourite\nminerals, and the close-grained igneous rocks, adapted for the variety\nof implements in general use. There were also the traders by whom the\nraw material was transported to regions where it could only be procured\nby barter; as appears to be demonstrated by the repeated discovery, not\nonly of flint and stone implements, alike in stray examples, and in\nwell-furnished caches; but also of work-places, remote from any\nflint-producing formation, strewn with the chips, flakes, and imperfect\nor unfinished implements of the tool-makers. It thus becomes obvious\nthat the men of the earliest Stone age transported suitable material for\ntheir simple arts from many remote localities, and purchased the\nservices of the skilled workman with the produce of the chase, or\nwhatever other equivalent they could offer in exchange. The further\narch\u00e6ological search is extended, the evidence of social co-operation\nand systematised industry among the men of the Pal\u00e6olithic era, as well\nas among those of later periods prior to the dawn of metallurgic skill,\nbecomes more apparent. Nor is it less interesting to note that there was\nno more equality among the men of those primitive ages, than in later\ncivilised stages of social progress. Diversities in capacity and\nconsequent moral force asserted themselves in the skilled handicraftsmen\nof the Pal\u00e6olithic dawn, much as they do in the most artificial states\nof modern society. As a natural concomitant to this, and an invaluable\nelement of co-operation, the prized flint flakes appear to have\nfurnished a primitive medium of exchange, more generally available as a\ncurrency of recognised value than any other substitute for coined money.\nThe principles on which the wealth of nations and the whole social\nfabric of human society depend, were thus already in operation ages\nbefore the merchants of Tyre, or the traders of Massala, had learned to\nturn to account the mineral resources of the Cassiterides; or that\nvaguer and still more remote era before the ancient Atlantis had\nvanished from the ken of the civilised dwellers around the Mediterranean\nSea.\n\n-----\n\n[10] _Ancient Stone Implements_, p. 14.\n\n[11] Hoare\u2019s _South Wilts_, p. 195.\n\n[12] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, viii. 137.\n\n[13] _Ibid._ N.S. vii. 356.\n\n[14] _Ibid._ N.S. xii. 436.\n\n[15] _Arch\u00e6ologia_, xiii. 204.\n\n[16] _Arch\u00e6ologia_, xiii. 224, 225; pl. xiv. xv.\n\n[17] _Athen\u00e6um_, Dec. 18, 1886.\n\n[18] _U.S. Geological Survey_, 1872, p. 652.\n\n[19] _Primitive Industry_, Figs. 241, 254, 292, 295, etc.\n\n[20] Evans\u2019 _Stone Implements_, Fig. 94.\n\n[21] _Arch\u00e6ologia_, xlii. 72.\n\n[22] _Ibid._ p. 68.\n\n[23] _Ibid._ p. 68.\n\n[24] _British Barrows_, p. 166.\n\n[25] _Pal\u00e6olithic Man in Eastern and Central North America_, pp. 152,\n153.\n\n[26] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. ii. 132.\n\n[27] _Smithsonian Reports_, Part I. 1885, p. 880.\n\n[28] _Report of the Peabody Museum_, ii. 262.\n\n[29] _Prehistoric Man_, 3d ed. vol. ii. p. 223.\n\n[30] _Tribes of the Extreme North-West_, pp. 81, 82.\n\n[31] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, 158.\n\n[32] Abbott\u2019s _Primitive Industry_, p. 33.\n\n[33] _Smithsonian Report_, 1872.\n\n[34] _Ibid._ 1868, p. 402.\n\n[35] _Smithsonian Report_, 1877, p. 293.\n\n[36] _Smithsonian Report_, 1885, Part I. p. 873.\n\n[37] _Smithsonian Report_, 1885, Part I. p. 873.\n\n[38] _Smithsonian Report_, Part I. 1885, p. 874.\n\n[39] _Science_, iii. 342.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IV\n                         PRE-ARYAN AMERICAN MAN\n\n\nTHE department of American ethnology, notwithstanding its many\nindefatigable workers, is still to a large extent a virgin soil. The\nwestern hemisphere is rich in materials for ethnical study, but there is\nurgent demand for diligent labourers to rescue them for future use. On\nall hands we see ancient nations passing away. The prairie tribes are\nvanishing with the buffalo; the Flathead Indians of diverse types and\nstranger tongues; and, more interesting than either, the ingenious\nHaidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands: are all diminishing in numbers,\ngiving up their distinctive customs, and confusing their mythic and\nlegendary traditions with foreign admixtures; while some are destined to\nspeedy extinction.\n\nWhen, in 1846, the artist, Paul Kane, entered on his exploratory travels\namong the tribes of the North-West, the Flathead Indians of Oregon and\nBritish Columbia embraced populous settlements of Cowlitz, Chinook,\nNewatee, and other nations. Now the researches of the American Bureau of\nEthnology are stimulated by the disclosure that of the Clatsop and\nChinook tribes there are only three survivors who speak the former\nlanguage, and only one with a knowledge of the latter. Of the Klaskanes,\nin like manner, only one is known to survive; and from a like solitary\nrepresentative of the Tuteloes the language of a vanished race has\nrecently been rescued. With all the native tribes who have been brought\ninto near relations with the intruding white race their languages and\ncustoms are undergoing important modifications. Other elements of\nconfusion and erasure are also at work. A large influx of Chinese\ncomplicates the ethnological problem; and it cannot be wisely left to\nthe efforts of individuals, carried on without concert, and on no\ncomprehensive or systematic plan, to rescue for future study the\ninvaluable materials of American ethnology. To the native languages\nespecially the inquirer into some of the curious problems involved in\nthe peopling of this continent must look for a key to the mystery.\n\nThe intelligent inquirer cannot fail to be rewarded for any time he may\ndevote to a consideration of the condition and relative status of the\naborigines, north of the Gulf of Mexico, not only as studied from\nexisting native tribes, or from those known since the discovery of\nAmerica in 1492, but in so far as we can determine their earlier\ncondition with the aid of arch\u00e6ological evidence. The student of the\nhistory of the North American nations cannot indeed altogether overlook\nthe undoubted fact that Columbus was not the first of European voyagers\nwithin the Christian era to enter on the colonisation of the western\nhemisphere; whatever value he may attach to the legends and traditions\nof more ancient explorers.\n\nThe part played by the Scandinavian stock in European history proves\ntheir abundant aptitude to have been the organisers of a Northland of\ntheir own in the New World. The Northmen lingered behind, in their first\nhome in the Scandinavian peninsula, while Goth, Longobard, Vandal,\nSuevi, Frank, Burgundian, and other tribes from the Baltic first wasted\nand then revolutionised the Roman world. But they were nursing a\nvigorous youth, which ere long, as pagan Dane, and then as Norman,\nstamped a new character on medi\u00e6val Europe. Their presence in the New\nWorld rests on indubitable evidence; but the very definiteness of its\ncharacter in their inhospitable northern retreat helps to destroy all\nfaith in any mere conjectural fancies relative to their settlement on\npoints along the Atlantic seaboard which they are supposed to have\nvisited.\n\nRunic inscriptions on the Canadian and New England seaboard would, if\ngenuine, give an entirely novel aspect to our study of Pre-Columbian\nAmerican history, with all its possibilities of older intercourse with\nthe eastern hemisphere. But it is the same whether we seek for traces of\ncolonisation in the tenth or the fifteenth century, in so far as all\nnative history is concerned. They equally little suffice to furnish\nevidence of relationship, in blood, language, arts or customs, between\nany people of the eastern hemisphere and the native American races. We\nare indeed invited from time to time to review indications suggestive of\nan Asiatic or other old-world source for the American aborigines; and in\nnearly every system of ethnical classification they are, with good\nreason, ranked as Mongolid\u00e6; but if their pedigree is derived from an\nAsiatic stock, the evidence has yet to be marshalled which shall place\non any well-established basis the proofs of direct ethnical affinity\nbetween them and races of the eastern hemisphere. The ethnological\nproblem is, here as elsewhere, beset by many obscuring elements.\nLanguage, at best, yields only remote analogies, and thus far American\narch\u00e6ology, though studied with unflagging zeal, has been able to render\nvery partial aid.\n\nIt cannot admit of question that the compass of American\narch\u00e6ology,\u2014including that of the semi-civilised and lettered races of\nCentral and Southern America,\u2014is greatly circumscribed in comparison\nwith that of Europe. But the simplicity which results from this has some\ncompensating elements in its direct adaptation to the study of man, as\nhe appears on the continent unaffected by the artificialities of a\nforced civilisation, and with so little that can lend countenance to any\ntheory of degeneracy from a higher condition of life. In the modern\nalliance between arch\u00e6ology and geology, and the novel views which have\nresulted as to the antiquity of man, the characteristic disclosures of\nprimitive art, alike among ancient and modern races, have given a\nsignificance to familiar phases of savage life undreamt of till very\nrecently. The student who has by such means formed a definite conception\nof primeval art, and realised some idea of the condition and\nacquirements of the savage of Europe\u2019s Post-Pliocene era, turns with\nrenewed interest to living races seemingly perpetuating in arts and\nhabits of our own day what gave character to the social life of the\nprehistoric dawn. This phase of primitive art can still be studied on\nmore than one continent, and in many an island of the Pacific and the\nIndian ocean; but nowhere is the apparent reproduction of such initial\nphases of the history of our race presented in so comprehensive an\naspect as on the American continent. There man is to be found in no\ndegree superior in arts or habits to the Australian savage; while\nevidence of ingenious skill and of considerable artistic taste occur\namong nomads exposed to the extremest privations of an Arctic climate;\nand with no more knowledge of metallurgy than is implied in occasionally\nturning to account the malleable native copper, by hammering it into the\ndesired shape; or, in their intercourse with Arctic voyagers and\nHudson\u2019s Bay trappers, acquiring by barter some few implements and\nweapons of European manufacture. The arts of the patient Eskimo,\nexercised under the stimulus of their constant struggle for existence\namid all the hardships of a polar climate, have, indeed, not only\nsuggested comparisons between them and the artistic cave-dwellers of\nCentral Europe in its prehistoric dawn; but have been assumed to prove\nan ethnical affinity, and direct descent, altogether startling when we\nfully realise the remote antiquity thereby assigned to those Arctic\nnomads, and the unchanging condition ascribed to them through all the\nintervening ages of geographical and social revolution.\n\nBut whatever may be the value ultimately assigned to the Eskimo\npedigree, a like phenomenon of unprogressive humanity, perpetuating\nthrough countless generations the same rudimentary arts, everywhere\npresents itself, and seems to me to constitute the really remarkable\nfeature in North American ethnology and arch\u00e6ology. We find, not only in\nCanada but throughout the whole region northward from the Gulf of\nMexico, diversified illustrations of savage life; but nearly all of them\nunaffected by traces of contact with earlier civilisation. From the\nnorthern frontiers of Canada the explorer may travel through widely\ndiversified regions till he reach the ca\u00f1ons of Mexico and the ruined\ncities of Central America; and all that he finds of race and art, of\nlanguage or native tradition, is in contrast to the diversities of the\nEuropean record of manifold successions of races and of arts. There\nwithin the Arctic circle the Eskimo constructs his lodge of snow, and\nsuccessfully maintains the battle for life under conditions which\ndetermine to a large extent the character of his ingenious arts and\nmanufacture. Immediately to the south are found the nomad tribes of\nforest and prairie, with their t\u00e9epees of buffalo-skin, or their\nbirch-bark wigwams and canoes: wandering hunter tribes of the great\nNorth-West; type of the red Indian of the whole northern continent. The\nOhio and Mississippi valleys abound with earthworks and other remains of\nthe vanished race of the Mound-Builders: of old the dwellers there in\nfortified towns, agriculturalists, ingenious potters, devoted to the use\nof tobacco, expending laborious art on their sculptured pipes, and with\nsome exceptionally curious skill in practical geometry; yet, they too,\nignorant of almost the very rudiments of metallurgy, and only in the\nfirst stage of the organised life of a settled community. The modifying\ninfluences of circumstances must be recognised in the migratory or\nsettled habits of different tribes. The Eskimo are of necessity hunters\nand fishers, yet they are not, strictly speaking, nomads. In summer they\nlive in tents, constantly moving from place to place, as the exigencies\nof the reindeer-hunting, seal-hunting, or fishing impel them. But they\ngenerally winter in the same place for successive generations, and\nmanifest as strong an attachment to their native home as the dwellers in\nmore favoured lands. Their dwelling-houses accommodate from three or\nfour to ten families; and the same tendency to gather in communities\nunder one roof is worthy of notice wherever other wandering tribes\nsettle even temporarily. A drawing, made by me in 1866, of a birch-bark\ndwelling which stood among a group of ordinary wigwams on the banks of\nthe Kaministiquia, shows a lodge of sufficiently large dimensions to\naccommodate several families of a band of Chippewas, who had come from\nthe far West to trade their furs with the Hudson\u2019s Bay factor there. The\nHaidahs, the Chinooks, the Nootkas, the Columbian and other Indian\ntribes to the west of the Rocky Mountains, all use temporary tents or\nhuts in their frequent summer wanderings; but their permanent dwellings\nare huge structures sufficient to accommodate many families, and\nsometimes the whole tribe. They are constructed of logs or split planks,\nand in some cases, as among the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte Islands, they\nare elaborately decorated with carving and painting.\n\nThe gregarious habits thus manifested by many wandering tribes, whenever\ncircumstances admit of their settling down in a permanent home, may be\ndue mainly to the economy of labour which experience has taught them in\nthe construction of one common dwelling, instead of the multiplication\nof single huts or lodges. But far to the southward are the ancient\npueblos, the casas grandes, the cliff dwellings, of a race not yet\nextinct: timid, unaggressive, living wholly on the defensive, gathered\nin large communities like ants or bees; industrious, frugal, and\nmanifesting ingenious skill in their pottery and other useful arts; but,\nthey too, in no greatly advanced stage. Still farther to the south we\ncome at length to the seats of an undoubted native American\ncivilisation. The comparative isolation of Central America, and the\ncharacter of its climate and productions, all favoured a more settled\nlife; with, as genuine results, its architecture, sculpture, metallurgy,\nhieroglyphics, writing, and all else that gives so novel a character to\nthe memorials of the Central American nations. But great as is their\ncontrast with the wild tribes of the continent, the highest phases of\nnative civilisation will not compare with the arts of Egypt, in\ncenturies before Cadmus taught letters to the rude shepherds of Attica,\nor the wolf still suckled her cubs on the Palatine hill.\n\nIf this is a correct reading of American arch\u00e6ology, its bearings are\nsignificant in reference to the whole history of American man. In Europe\nthe student of primitive antiquity is habitually required to\ndiscriminate between products of ingenious skill belonging to periods\nand races widely separated alike by time and by essentially diverse\nstages of progress in art. For not only do its Pal\u00e6olithic and Neolithic\nperiods long precede the oldest written chronicles; but even its Aryan\ncolonisation lies beyond any record of historic beginnings. The\ncivilisation which had already grown up around the Mediterranean Sea\nwhile the classic nations were in their infancy, extended its influences\nnot only to what was strictly regarded as transalpine Europe, but beyond\nthe English Channel and the Baltic, centuries before the Rhine and\nDanube formed the boundary of the Roman world. Voltaire, when treating\nof the morals and spirit of nations, says: \u201cIt is not in the nature of\nman to desire that which he does not know.\u201d But it is certainly in his\nnature, at any rate, to desire much that he does not possess; and the\ncravings of the rudest outlying tribes of ancient Europe must have been\nstimulated by many desires of which those of the New World were\nunconscious till the advent of Europeans in the fifteenth century\nbrought them into contact with a long-matured civilisation.\n\nThe arch\u00e6ology of the American continent is, in this respect, at least,\nsimple. Its student is nowhere exposed to misleading or obscuring\nelements such as baffle the European explorer from the intermingling of\nrelics of widely diverse eras, or even such a succession of arts of the\nmost dissimilar character as Dr. Schliemann found on the site of the\nclassic Ilium. The history of America cannot repeat that of Europe. Its\ngreat river-valleys and vast prairies present a totally different\ncondition of things from that in which the distinctive arts, languages,\nand nationalities of Europe have been matured. The physical geography of\nthe latter with its great central Alpine chain, its highlands, its\ndividing seas, its peninsulas, and islands, has necessarily fostered\nisolation; and so has tended to develop the peculiarities of national\ncharacter, as well as to protect incipient civilisation and immature\narts from the constant erasures of barbarism. The steppes of Asia in\nolder centuries proved the nurseries of hordes of rude warriors,\npowerful only for spoliation. The evidence of the isolation of the\nnations of Europe in early centuries is unmistakable. Scarcely any\nfeature in the history of the ancient world is more strange to us now\nthan the absence of all direct intercourse between countries separated\nonly by the Alps, or even by the Danube or the Rhine. \u201cThe geography of\nGreek experience, as exhibited by Homer, is limited, speaking generally,\nto the \u00c6gean and its coasts, with the Propontis as its limit in the\nnorth-east; with Crete for a southern boundary; and with the addition of\nthe western coast of the peninsula and its islands as far northwards as\nthe Leucadian rock. The key to the great contrast between the outer\ngeography and the facts of nature lies in the belief of Homer that a\ngreat sea occupied the space where we know the heart of the European\ncontinent to lie.\u201d[40] To the early Romans the Celtic nations were known\nonly as warlike nomads whose incursions from beyond the Alpine frontier\nof their little world were perpetuated in the half-legendary tales of\ntheir own national childhood. To the Greek even of the days of Herodotus\nno more was known of the Gauls or Germans than the rumours brought by\nseamen and traders whose farthest voyage was to the mouth of the Rhone.\n\nIt is, indeed, difficult for us now, amid the intimate relations of the\nmodern world, and the interchange of products of the remotest east and\nwest, to realise a condition of things when the region beyond the Alps\nwas a mystery to the Greek historian, and the very existence of the\nriver Rhine was questioned; or when, four centuries later, the nations\naround the Baltic, which were before long to supplant the masters of the\nRoman world, were so entirely unknown to them that, as Dr. Arnold\nremarks, in one of his letters: \u201cThe Roman colonies along the Rhine and\nthe Danube looked out on the country beyond those rivers as we look up\nat the stars, and actually see with our own eyes a world of which we\nknow nothing.\u201d Yet such ignorance was not incompatible with indirect\nintercourse; and was so far from excluding the barbarians beyond the\nAlps or the Baltic from all the fruits of the civilisation which grew up\naround the Mediterranean Sea, that the elements of the oldest runic\nepigraphy of the Goths and Scandinavians are traced to that source; and\nthe stamp of Hellenic influence is apparent in the later runic writing.\nMoreover the elucidation of European arch\u00e6ology has owed its chief\nimpediment to the difficulty of discriminating between arts of diverse\neras and races of northern Europe, intermingled with those of its\nNeolithic and Bronze periods; or of separating them from the true\nproducts of Celtic and classic workmanship.\n\nIt is altogether different with American arch\u00e6ology. Were there any\ntraces there of Celtic, Roman, or medi\u00e6val European art, the whole\ntendency of the American mind would be to give even an exaggerated value\nto their influence. Superficial students of the ruins of Mexico and\nCentral America have misinterpreted characteristics pertaining to what\nmay not inaptly be designated instincts common to the human mind in its\nfirst efforts at visible expression of its ideas; and have recognised in\nthem fancied analogies with ancient Egyptian art, or with the mythology\nand astronomical science of the East. Had, indeed, the more advanced\nnations of the New World borrowed the arts of Egypt, India, or Greece,\nthe great river highways and the vast unbroken levels of the northern\ncontinent presented abundant facilities for their diffusion, with no\ngreater aid than the birch-bark canoe of the northern savage. The copper\nof Lake Superior was familiar to nations on the banks of the\nMississippi, the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, and the Delaware. Nor was the\ninfluence of southern civilisation wholly inoperative. Reflex traces of\nthe prolific fancy of the Peruvian potter may be detected in the rude\nware of the mounds of Georgia and Tennessee; and the conventional art of\nYucatan reappears in the ornamentation of the lodges of the Haidahs of\nQueen Charlotte\u2019s Islands, and in the wood and ivory carvings of the\nTawatin and other tribes of British Columbia. Already, moreover, the\nelaborate native devices which give such distinctive character to the\nivory and claystone carvings of the Chimpseyan and Clalam Indians, have\nbeen largely superseded by reproductions of European ornamentation, or\nliteral representations of houses, shipping, horses, fire-arms, and\nother objects brought under the notice of the native artist in his\nintercourse with white men. We are justified, therefore, in assuming\nthat no long-matured civilisation could have existed in any part of the\nAmerican continent without leaving, not only abundant evidence of its\npresence within its own area, but also many traces of its influence far\nbeyond. Yet it cannot be said of the vanished races of the North\nAmerican continent that they died and made no sign. Their memorials are\nabundant, and some of their earthworks and burial mounds are on a\ngigantic scale. But they perpetuate no evidence of a native civilisation\nof elder times bearing the slightest analogy to that of Europe through\nall its historic centuries. The western hemisphere stands a world apart,\nwith languages and customs essentially its own; and with man and his\narts embraced within greatly narrower limits of development than in any\nother quarter of the globe, if we except Australia. The evolutionist\nmay, indeed, be tempted by the absence not only of the anthropoid apes,\nbut by all but the lowest families of the _Primates_, to regard man as a\nrecent intruder on the American continent. But in this, as in the\narch\u00e6ologist\u2019s deductions, the term \u201crecent\u201d is a relative one. To\nwhatever source American man may be referred, his relations to the\nold-world races are sufficiently remote to preclude any theory of\ngeographical distribution within the historic period.\n\nIt is not, therefore, adequate time that is wanting for the growth of a\nnative American civilisation. The only satisfactory indication of the\naffiliation of the American races to those of Asia or Europe, or of\nAfrica, must be sought for in their languages. But any trace of this\nkind, thus far observed, is at best obscure and remote. The resemblance\nin physical traits points to affinity with the Asiatic Mongol, and the\nagglutinate characteristics common to many languages of the continent,\notherwise essentially dissimilar, is in harmony with this. But Asiatic\naffinities are only traceable remotely, not demonstrable on any definite\nline of descent; and all the evidence that language supplies points to a\ngreatly prolonged period of isolation. The number of languages spoken\nthroughout the whole of North and South America has been estimated to\nconsiderably exceed twelve hundred; and on the northern continent alone,\nmore than five hundred distinct languages are spoken, which admit of\nclassification among seventy-five ethnical groups, each with essential\nlinguistic distinctions, pointing to its own parent stock. Some of those\nlanguages are merely well-marked dialects, with fully developed\nvocabularies. Others have more recently acquired a dialectic character\nin the breaking up and scattering of dismembered tribes, and present a\nvery limited range of vocabulary, suited to the intellectual\nrequirements of a small tribe, or band of nomads. The prevailing\ncondition of life throughout the whole North American continent was\npeculiarly favourable to the multiplication of such dialects, and their\ngrowth into new languages, owing to the constant dismemberment of\ntribes, and the frequent adoption into their numbers of the refugees\nfrom other fugitive broken tribes, leading to an intermingling of\nvocabularies and fresh modifications of speech.\n\nBut, by whatever means we seek to account for the great diversity of\nspeech among the communities of the New World, it is manifest that\nlanguage furnishes no evidence of recent intrusion, or of contact for\nmany generations with Asiatic or other races. On any theory of origin\neither of race or language, a greatly prolonged period is indispensable\nto account for the actual condition of things which presents such a\ntempting field for the study of the ethnologist. Among the various races\nbrought under notice, the Huron-Iroquois of Canada and the neighbouring\nstates most fitly represent the North American race east of the Rocky\nMountains. Their language, subdivided into many dialects, furnishes\nindications of migrations throughout the greater portion of that area\neastward between the Mississippi and the Atlantic seaboard, and its\naffinities have been sought for beyond the American continent. Mr.\nHoratio Hale, an experienced philologist familiar with the races and\nlanguages most nearly akin to those of the New World, in his _Indian\nMigrations, as evidenced by Language_, after remarking that there is\nnothing in the languages of the American Indians to favour the\nconjecture of an origin from Eastern Asia, thus proceeds: \u201cBut in\nWestern Europe one community is known to exist, speaking a language\nwhich in its general structure manifests a near likeness to the Indian\ntongues. Alone of all the races of the old continent the Basques or\nEuskarians, of northern Spain and south-western France, have a speech of\nthat highly complex and polysynthetic character which distinguishes the\nAmerican languages.\u201d But to this he has to add the statement that \u201cthere\nis not, indeed, any such positive similarity in words or grammar as\nwould prove a direct affiliation. The likeness is merely in the general\ncast and mould of speech, but this likeness is so marked as to have\nawakened much attention.\u201d[41]\n\nAssuming the affinity thus based on a general likeness in cast and mould\nof speech to be well founded, there need be no surprise at the lack of\nany positive similarity in words or grammar; for, used only as a test of\nthe intervening time since Basque and Red Indian parted, it points to\nrepresentatives of a prehistoric race that occupied Europe before the\nadvent of Celtic or other Aryan pioneer, long prior to the historic\ndawn. And if the intervening centuries between that undetermined date\nand the close of the fifteenth century, when intercourse was once more\nrenewed between the Iberian peninsula and the transatlantic continent,\nsufficed for the evolution of all the classic, medi\u00e6val, and renaissance\nphases of civilisation in Europe, what was man doing through all those\ncenturies in this New World? A period of time would appear to have\ntranspired ample enough for the development of a native civilisation;\nbut neither the languages nor the arts of the Indian nations found in\noccupation of the northern continent reveal traces of it; nor does\narch\u00e6ology disclose to us evidence of civilised precursors. Whatever\ntheir origin may have been, the Red Indian appears to have remained for\nunnumbered centuries excluded by ocean barriers from all influence of\nthe historic races. But on this very account an inquiry into the history\nof the nations of the American continent, in so far as this may be\nrecoverable from arch\u00e6ological or other evidence, may simplify important\nethnical problems, and contribute results of some value in reference to\nthe condition and progress of primeval man elsewhere.\n\nIn Europe man can be studied only as he has been moulded by a thousand\nexternal influences, and by the intermixture of many dissimilar races.\nThe most recent terms of ethnological classification, the Xanthocroi and\nMelanochroi, are based on the assumed interblending of widely dissimilar\nraces in times long anterior to any definite chronology. There was a\ntime, as is assumed, when the sparsely peopled areas of Europe were\noccupied by a population still imperfectly represented by the Finns, the\nLapps, and the Basques. Those are supposed to be surviving fragments of\na once homogeneous population in prehistoric centuries. On this the\ngreat Aryan migration intruded in successive waves of Celtic, Slavic,\nHellenic and Teutonic invaders, not without considerable intermixture of\nblood. Such is the great ethnical revolution by which it is assumed that\nEurope was recolonised from the same source from whence India and Persia\nderived their ancient civilised and lettered races. The Finnic\nhypothesis, and the once favoured idea of an Asiatic cradleland for the\nwhole so-called Aryan races, have been greatly modified by later\nresearch. Community of language is no longer accepted as necessarily\ninvolving a common ethnic origin. But the results in no way affect the\ngeneral conclusion as to the displacement of a succession of barbarous\nraces by the historic races of Europe long before the Christian era.\n\nThe year 1492 marks the beginning of an analogous ethnical revolution by\nwhich the Aryan, or Indo-European stock intruded, in ever-increasing\nnumbers, on the aboriginal populations of the New World. The disparity\nbetween the first Celtic or other Aryan immigrants into Europe and the\naborigines whom they encountered there was probably less than that which\nseparated the first American colonists from the Red Indian savages whom\nthey displaced. In both cases it was the meeting of cultured races with\nrude nomads whom they were prone to regard with an aversion or contempt\nvery different from the repellent elements between conquering and\nsubject nations in near equality to each other. The disparity, for\nexample, between the native Briton and the intruding Saxon, or between\nthe later Anglo-Saxon and the intruding Dane or Northman, was\nsufficiently slight to admit of ready intermixture, ultimately, in spite\nof their bitter antagonism. Nor was even the civilised Roman separated\nby any such gulf from the Gaul or German who bowed to the Imperial yoke,\nand exchanged their independence for Roman citizenship. But other\nelements have also to be kept in view. The pioneers of emigration are\nnot, as a rule, the most cultured members of the intruding race; while\nthe disparity in the relative numbers of the sexes inevitably resulting\nfrom the conditions under which any extensive migration takes place\nforms an effective counterpoise to very wide ethnical differences. In\nevery case of extensive immigration, with the excess of males and\nchiefly of hardy young adventurers, the same result is inevitable. On\nthe American continent it has already produced a numerous race of\nhalf-breeds, descendants of white and Indian parentage, apart from that\nother and not less interesting \u201ccoloured race,\u201d now numbering upwards of\nsix millions in the United States alone, the descendants of European and\nAfrican parentage. In the older provinces of Canada, the remnants of the\naboriginal Indian tribes have been gathered on suitable reserves; and on\nmany of these, so far are they from hastening to extinction, that during\nthe last quarter of a century the returns of the Indian Department show\na steady numerical increase. In the United States, under less favourable\ncircumstances, similar results are beginning to be recognised. In a\nreport on \u201cIndian Civilisation and Education,\u201d dated Washington,\nNovember 24, 1877, it is set forth as more and more tending to assume\nthe aspect of an established fact, \u201cthat the Indians, instead of being\ndoomed to extinction within a limited period, are, as a rule, not\ndecreasing in numbers; and are, in all probability, destined to form a\npermanent factor; an enduring element of our population.\u201d Wherever the\naborigines have been gathered together upon suitable reserves, and\ntrained to industrious habits, as among the Six Nation Indians, settled\non the Grand river, in the Province of Ontario; or where they have\nmingled on terms of equality with the white settlers, as within the old\nHudson\u2019s Bay territory on the Red river, they have after a time showed\nindications of endurance. It is not a mere intermingling of white and\nIndian settlers, but the increase of the community by the growth of a\nhalf-breed population; and when this takes place under favourable\ncircumstances, as was notably the case so long as the hunter tribes of\nthe prairies and the trappers of the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company shared the\ngreat North-West as a common hunting-ground, the results are altogether\nfavourable to the endurance of the mixed race. On a nearly similar\nfooting we may conceive of the admixture of the earliest Aryans with the\nAllophylians of Europe, resulting in some of the most noticeable types\nof modern European nationalities. The growth in the territory of the\nHudson\u2019s Bay Company of a numerous half-breed population, assuming the\nstatus of farming hunters, distinct alike from the Indians and the\nWhites, is a fact of singular interest to the ethnologist. It has been\nthe result of alliances, chiefly with Indian Cree women, by the fur\ntrappers of the region. But these included two distinct elements: the\none a Scottish immigration, chiefly from the Orkney Islands; the other\nthat of the French Canadians, who long preceded the English as hunters\nand trappers in the North-West. The contrasting Scottish and French\npaternity reveals itself in the hybrid offspring; but in both cases the\nhalf-breeds are a large and robust race, with greater powers of\nendurance than the pure-blood Indian. They have been described to me by\nmore than one trustworthy observer as \u201csuperior in every respect, both\nmentally and physically,\u201d and this is confirmed by my own experience.\nThe same opinion has been expressed by nearly all who have paid special\nattention to the hybrid races of the New World. D\u2019Orbigny, when\nreferring to the general result of this intermingling of races says:\n\u201cAmong the nations in America the product is always superior to the two\ntypes that are mixed.\u201d Henry, a traveller of the last century, who spent\nsix years among the North American Indians, notes the confirmatory\nassurance given to him by a Cristineaux chief, that \u201cthe children borne\nby their women to Europeans were bolder warriors and better hunters than\nthemselves.\u201d Finally, of the hardy race of the Arctic circle Dr. Kane\nsays: \u201cThe half-breeds of the coast rival the Esquimaux in their powers\nof endurance.\u201d There is also a fine race in Greenland, half Danes; and\nDr. Rae informs me that numerous half-breed Eskimo are to be met with on\nthe Labrador coast. They are taller and more hardy than the pure-blooded\nEskimo; so that he always gave the preference to them as his guides. The\nDanish half-breeds are described by Dr. Henry Rink, in his _Tales and\nTraditions of the Eskimo_, as dating back to the earliest times of the\ncolonisation of Greenland. The mixed marriages, he says, \u201chave generally\nbeen rich in offspring. The children for the most part grow up as\ncomplete Greenlanders\u201d; but the distinction between them and the native\nEskimo is unmistakable, although individuals of the hybrid offspring\nrepresent the mixture of European and native blood in almost every\npossible proportion.\n\nFrom the conquest of Mexico in 1520, and of Peru in 1534, this admixture\nof races of the Old and the New World has been going on in varying ratio\naccording to the relative circumstances under which they meet. In Mexico\nand in the more civilised portions of South America the half-breeds are\nestimated to constitute fully one-fifth of the whole population, while\nthe so-called \u201ccoloured people,\u201d the descendants of European and African\nparentage, now number not less than fifteen millions throughout the\nmainland and the Islands of North and South America.\n\nThroughout the northern, southern, and western states of America, on the\nPacific slope, and in Canada, the growth of a mixed race of White and\nIndian blood has everywhere taken place in the first period of\nsettlement, when the frontier backwoodsman and the hunter were brought\ninto contact with the native tribes. Along the borders of every frontier\nstate a nearly exclusive male population is compelled to accept the\nservices of the Indian women in any attempt at domestic life. The\nchildren grow up to share in perfect equality the rude life of their\nfathers. The new generation presents a mixed race of hardy trappers,\nmingling the aptitudes of both races in the wild life of the frontier.\nWith the increase of population, and the more settled life of the\nclearing, the traces of mixed blood are lost sight of; but it is to a\nlarge extent only a repetition of what appears to have marked the advent\nof the Aryan immigrants into Europe. The new, but more civilised race\npredominated. Literal extermination, no doubt, did its work, and the\naborigines to a large extent perished. But no inconsiderable remnant\nfinally disappeared by absorption into the general stock; not without\nleaving enduring evidence of the process in the Melanochroi, or dark\nwhites\u2014the Iberians, or Black Celts, as they are sometimes styled,\u2014of\nWestern Europe; as well as in the allied type, not only of the\nMediterranean shores, but of Western Asia and Persia. A process has thus\nbeen going on on the American continent for four centuries, which cannot\nfail to beget new types in the future; even as a like process is seen to\nhave produced them under analogous conditions in ancient Europe.\n\nViewed in this aspect, the arch\u00e6ology and ethnology of the New World\npresents in some important respects a startling analogy to pre-Aryan\nEurope. Assuredly the status of the Allophylian races of Europe can\nscarcely have been inferior to that of some, at least, of the aborigines\nof America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Probably the\nAryan pioneers were fully equal to its first European immigrants. But if\nthe ethnical characteristics of American man are simple, and the aspect\nof his social life appears to realise for us a living analogy to that of\nEurope\u2019s Neolithic, if not in some respects to that of its Pal\u00e6olithic\nera, the question of his antiquity acquires a new interest; for it thus\nbecomes apparent that man may remain through countless ages in the wild\nhunter stage, as unprogressive as any other denizen of the wilderness\npropagating its species and hunting for its prey. But the whole question\nof the antiquity of man has undergone a marvellous revolution. The\nliterature of modern geology curiously illustrates its progress, from\nthe date of the publication of Dean Buckland\u2019s _Reliqui\u00e6 Diluvian\u00e6_, in\n1823, to the final edition of Sir Charles Lyell\u2019s _Principles of\nGeology_, in 1872, and the latest embodiment of his conclusions on the\nspecial question involved in his _Antiquity of Man_.\n\nThe determination of a Pal\u00e6olithic period for Europe, with its rude\nimplements of flint or stone, chipped into shape without the aid of any\ngrinding or polishing process, and belonging to an era when man was\nassociated with animals either extinct or known only throughout the\nhistoric period in extreme northern latitudes, has naturally stimulated\nthe research of American arch\u00e6ologists for corresponding traces on this\ncontinent. Nor is the anticipation of the possible recovery of the\ntraces of man\u2019s presence in post-glacial, or still earlier epochs in\nunhistoric areas, limited to either continent. If it be accepted as an\nestablished fact that man has existed in Europe for unnumbered ages,\nduring which enormous physical changes have been wrought; upheaval and\ndenudation have revolutionised the face of the continent; the deposition\nof the whole drift formation has been effected; the river-valleys of\nSouthern England and the north of France have been excavated, and the\nBritish Islands detached from the neighbouring continent: it cannot be\nregarded as improbable that evidence may yet be found of the early\npresence of man in any region of the globe. Nevertheless some of the\nelements already referred to tend to mark with a character of their own\nthe investigations alike of the arch\u00e6ologist and the geologist into the\nearliest traces of human art in what we have learned habitually to speak\nof as a New World. In Europe the antiquary, familiar already with\nancient historic remains, had passed by a natural transition to the\nstudy of ruder examples of primitive art in stone and bronze, as well as\nto the physical characteristics of races which appeared to have\npreceeded the earliest historic nations. The occupation of the British\nIslands, for example, successively by Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons,\nDanes, and Normans, was so familiar to the popular mind that the problem\nof a sequence of neolithic, bronze, and the ruder iron implements with\ntheir correlated personal ornaments, pottery, etc., was universally\nsolved by referring them to Celtic, Roman, and Scandinavian art.\nErroneous as this interpretation of the evidence proves to have been, it\nhad, nevertheless, sufficient accordance with truth to prepare the way\nfor the ultimate reception of more accurate inductions. The fact of the\noccurrence of successive phases of art, and their indication of a\nsuccession of races, were undoubted; and researches directed to the\nsolution of the problem of European arch\u00e6ology were unhesitatingly\nfollowed up through medi\u00e6val, classical, Assyrian and Egyptian remains,\nto the very threshold of that prehistoric dawn which forms the\ntransitional stage between geological and historical epochs. A\nsignificant fact, in its bearing on the recent disclosures of the\nriver-drift in France and England, is that some of the most\ncharacteristic flint implements, such as a large spear head found along\nwith the remains of a fossil elephant in Gray\u2019s Inn Lane, London, and\nimplements of the same type obtained from the drift of the Waveney\nValley, in Surrey, underlying similar fossil remains, had been brought\nunder the notice of arch\u00e6ologists upwards of a century before the idea\nof the contemporaneous existence of man and the mammals of the Drift\nfound any favour; and they were unhesitatingly assigned to a Celtic\norigin. The first known discovery of any flint implement in the\nquaternary gravels of Europe is the one already noted which stands\nrecorded in the Sloane catalogue as \u201cA British weapon found, with\nelephant\u2019s tooth, opposite to black Mary\u2019s, near Grayes Inn Lane.\u201d\n\nA just conception of the comprehensiveness even of historical antiquity\nwas long retarded in Europe by an exclusive devotion to classical\nstudies; but the relations of America to the Old World are so recent,\nand all else is so nearly a blank, that for it the fifteenth century is\nthe historic dawn, and everything dating before the landing of Columbus\nhas been habitually assigned to the same vague antiquity. Hence\nhistorical research has been occupied for the most part on very modern\nremains, and the supreme triumph long aimed at has been to associate the\nhieroglyphics of Central America, and the architectural monuments of\nPeru, with those of Egypt. But we have entered on a new era of\narch\u00e6ological and historical inquiry. The pal\u00e6olithic implements of the\nFrench Drift have only been brought to light in our own day; and, though\nupwards of half a century has elapsed since the researches of Mr. J.\nMacEnery were rewarded by the discovery of flint implements of the\nearliest type in the same red loam of the Devonshire limestone caves\nwhich embedded bones of the mammoth, tichorhine rhinoceros, cave-bear\nand other extinct mammals, it is only recently that the full\nsignificance of such disclosures has been recognised.\n\nAmerica was indeed little behind Europe in the earlier stages of cavern\nresearch. A cabinet of the British Museum is filled with fossil bones\nobtained by Dr. Lund and M. Claussen from limestone caverns in Brazil,\nembedded in a reddish-coloured loam, under a thick stalagmitic flooring,\nand including, along with remains of genera still inhabiting the\nAmerican continent, those of extinct monkeys. Human bones were also\nfound in the same caves, but superficially, and seemingly of the present\nIndian race. But a fresh interest and significance have been given to\nsuch researches by the novel aspect of prehistoric arch\u00e6ology in Europe.\nThe relations now established between the earliest traces of European\nman and the geological aspects of the great Drift formation, have\nnaturally led to the diligent examination of corresponding deposits of\nthe continent of America, in the hope of recovering similar traces\nthere. Until recently, however, any supposed examples of American\npal\u00e6olithic art have been isolated and unsatisfactory. Colonel Charles\nC. Jones, in his _Antiquities of the Southern Indians_, notes the\ndiscovery in the Nacoochee valley, in the State of Georgia, of flint\nimplements from the gravel and boulders of the drift, and in material,\nmanner of construction, and appearance closely resembling the rough\nhatchets belonging to the Drift type. Other more or less trustworthy\nexamples of a like kind have been reported; among which may be noted a\nlarge specimen, now in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of\nScotland, found at Lewiston, in the State of New York, at a great depth,\nwhen sinking a well. Implements of neolithic character, and even of\nmodern type, have been produced, not only from Kansas and California\ngold-diggings, but from the volcanic tufa of the Pacific coast, overlaid\nby repeated volcanic deposits. In a terrace of modified drift, near\nLittle Falls, Minnesota, an accumulation of quartz chips have been\nfound; the supposed refuse of an ancient workshop. More definitely,\nProfessor Aughey reports the discovery of rudely chipped flint arrow\nheads in the loess of the Missouri valley, beneath the bones of the\nmastodon; and the loess gravels of Ohio and Indiana, belonging\nunquestionably to the last glacial age, have disclosed what seem to be\ngenuine pal\u00e6oliths, pointing to the presence of the rational tool-maker\nduring the close of the quaternary epoch of the North American\ncontinent.\n\nSome of those assumed illustrations of American pal\u00e6olithic art cannot\nbe accepted. One implement, for example, from the Californian\ngravel-drift, is a polished stone plummet perforated at one end, and not\nonly modern in character, but as a genuine discovery in the gold-bearing\ngravels, tending to discredit the pal\u00e6olithic origin assigned to ruder\nimplements found under similar circumstances. But the most startling\nexamples of this class are of minor importance when compared with\nreported discoveries of human remains in the Californian drift. In 1857,\nDr. C. F. Winslow produced a fragment of a human skull found eighteen\nfeet below the surface in the \u201cpay drift\u201d at Table Mountain, associated\nwith remains of the mastodon and fossil elephant. From beds underlying\nthe lava and volcanic tufa of California, from time to time other\nevidences of the assumed ancient presence of man and traces of his art\nare produced. But the manifestly recent character of some of the latter\nprove the disturbance of these deposits by subsequent influences. In\n1869 Professor J. D. Whitney exhibited, at the Chicago meeting of the\nAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, a complete human\nskull, recovered at a depth of 130 feet in the auriferous gravel of\nCalaveras County, California, underlying five successive beds of lava\nand volcanic tufa, and vouched for its geological antiquity. The gravel\nwhich adhered to the relic found imbedded in it is referred by him to\nthe Pliocene age; and Dr. J. W. Foster remarks of it, in his\n_Prehistoric Races of the United States_: \u201cThis skull, admitting its\nauthenticity, carries back the advent of man to the Pliocene epoch, and\nis therefore older than the stone implements of the drift-gravel of\nAbbeville and Amiens, or the relics furnished by the cave-dirt of\nBelgium and France.\u201d In reality, however, the authenticity of the skull\nas a pliocene relic cannot be admitted. Like that of Guadaloupe, those\nfound by Dr. Lund in the Brazil caves, and other fossil skulls of the\nAmerican continent, it proved, according to the trustworthy report of\nDr. Wyman, to be of the ordinary Indian type; though to some minds that\nonly confirms the genuineness of the discovery. A human skull recovered\nfrom the delta of the Mississippi at New Orleans, and estimated by Dr.\nDowler\u2014on what, \u201cto avoid all cavil,\u201d he claimed to be extremely\nmoderate assumptions,\u2014as not less than 57,000 years old, is grouped\nwith others found by Dr. Lund in one of the Brazil caves, at Logoa\nSanta, and thus commented on: \u201cNumerous species of animals have been\nblotted from creation since American humanity\u2019s first appearance. The\nform of these crania, moreover, proves that the general type of races\ninhabiting America at that inconceivably remote era was the same which\nprevailed at the Columbian discovery\u201d;[42] and so the authors of _Types\nof Mankind_ arrived at the conclusion that with such evidence of the\nnative American type having occupied the continent in geological times,\nbefore the formation of the Mississippi alluvia, science may spare\nitself the trouble of looking elsewhere for the origin of the American\nrace! The high authority of Professor Agassiz was adduced at the time in\nsupport of this and other equally crude assumptions; but they have\nceased to receive the countenance of men of science.\n\nMeanwhile the progress of European discovery has familiarised us with\nthe idea of the rude primeval race of its Pal\u00e6olithic era, so designated\nin reference to their characteristic implements recovered from the\nriver-drift of France and England, and from the sedimentary\naccumulations of their rock shelters and limestone caves. That flint and\nstone implements of every variety of form abound in the soil of the New\nWorld, has been established by ample proof; and if mere rudeness could\nbe accepted as evidence of antiquity, many of them rival in this respect\nthe rudest implements of the European drift. But it has to be kept in\nview that the indigenous tribes of America have scarcely even now\nabandoned the manufacture of implements of obsidian, flint, and stone,\nor of bone and ivory. So striking, indeed, is the analogy between the\nsimple arts of the pal\u00e6olithic cave-men of Southern France, and those\nstill practised by the Eskimo, that Professor Boyd Dawkins inferred from\nthis conclusive evidence of a pedigree for the Arctic aborigines little\nless ancient than that which Dr. Dowler long ago deduced from his\ndiscovery in the delta of the Mississippi. The implements and\naccumulated debris of the ancient hunters of the Garonne, the\ncontemporaries of the mammoth and other extinct mammals, and of the\nreindeer, musk-sheep, cave-bear, and other species known only within the\nhistoric period in extreme northern latitudes, undoubtedly suggest\ninteresting analogies with the modern Eskimo. Only under similar\nclimatic conditions to those in which they now live, could such\naccumulations of animal remains as have been found in the caves of the\nvalley of the V\u00e9s\u00e8re be possible in places habitually resorted to by\nman. But such analogies form a very slender basis on which to found the\nhypothesis that the race of the Mammoth and Reindeer period in the\nremote Post-Pliocene era of Southern France has its living\nrepresentatives within the Arctic circle of the American continent.\n\nThe students of modern arch\u00e6ology have become familiar with startling\ndisclosures; and the supposed identification of living representatives\nof the race of the pleistocene river beds or cave deposits is too\nfascinating a one to be readily abandoned by its originator. The men of\nthe River-Drift era are assumed to have been a race of still older and\nruder savages than the pal\u00e6olithic cave-men, who were more restricted in\ntheir range, and considerably in advance of them in the variety and\nworkmanship of their weapons and implements. The elder ruder race has\nvanished; but the cave-race of that indefinite but vastly remote era of\npliocene, or post-pliocene Europe, is imagined to still survive within\nthe Arctic frontiers of Canada.\n\nIn discussing the plausible hypothesis which thus aims at recovering in\nthe hyperboreans of America the race that before the close of Europe\u2019s\nPleistocene age, hunted the mammoth, the musk-sheep, and the reindeer in\nthe valleys of the Garonne, Professor Dawkins reviewed the manners and\nhabits of the Eskimo as a race of hunters, fishers, and fowlers,\naccumulating round their dwellings vast refuse heaps similar to those of\nthe ancient cave-men. Both were ignorant of the metallurgic arts, were\nexcluded to a large extent by a like rigorous climate from access to\nstone or flint; while they habitually turned to account the available\nmaterial, resulting from the spoils of the chase: bone, ivory, and\ndeer\u2019s horn, in the manufacture of all needful tools. The implements and\nweapons thus common to both do unquestionably prove that their manner of\nlife was in many respects similar. Professor Dawkins also notes, what\ncan scarcely seem surprising in any people familiar with the working in\nbone, namely, the use at times by the Eskimo of fossil mammoth ivory for\nthe handles of their stone scrapers, and adds: \u201cIt is very possible that\nthis habit of the Eskimos may have been handed down from the late\npleistocene times.\u201d But what strikes him as \u201cthe most astonishing bond\nof union between the cave-men and the Eskimo is the art of representing\nanimals\u201d; and, after noting those familiar to both, along with the\ncorrespondence in their weapons, and habits as hunters, he says: \u201cAll\nthese points of connection between the cave-men and the Eskimos can, in\nmy opinion, be explained only on the hypothesis that they belong to the\nsame race.\u201d[43]\n\nAs to the ingenious imitative art of the Cro-Magnon cave-dwellers, it is\nby no means peculiar to them and the modern Eskimo; but, on the\ncontrary, is common to many savage races; though by no modern savage\npeople has a like degree of artistic ability been shown. Professor\nDawkins says truly of the cave-man: \u201cHe possessed a singular talent for\nrepresenting the animals he hunted; and his sketches reveal to us that\nhe had a capacity for seeing the beauty and grace of natural form not\nmuch inferior to that which is the result of long-continued civilisation\nin ourselves, and very much higher than that of his successors in Europe\nin the Neolithic age. The hunter who was both artist and sculptor, who\nreproduced, with his imperfect means, at one time foliage, at another\nthe quiet repose of a reindeer feeding, has left behind him the proof of\na decided advance in culture, such as might be expected to result from\nthe long continuance of man on the earth in the hunter state of\ncivilisation.\u201d[44] All this is correct in reference to the art of the\nV\u00e9z\u00e8re carvers and draughtsmen; but it would be gross exaggeration if\napplied to such conventional art as the Eskimo arrow-straightener which\nProfessor Dawkins figures, with its formal row of reindeer and their\ngrotesque accessories. The same criticism is equally applicable to\nnumerous other specimens of Eskimo art, and to similar Innuit, or\nwestern Eskimo representations of hunting scenes, such as those figured\nby Mr. William H. Dall, in his _Alaska_, which he describes as \u201cdrawings\nanalogous to those discovered in France in the caves of Dordogne.\u201d[45]\n\nThe identity, or near resemblance between harpoons, fowling spears,\nmarrow spoons, and scrapers, of the ancient cave-race of pleistocene\nFrance, and implements of the modern Eskimo, is full of interest; as is\nmuch also of a like kind between savage races of our own day in the most\nwidely severed regions of the globe; but it is a slender basis on which\nto found such far-reaching deductions. The old race that lived on the\nverge of the great glaciers in Southern France gave the preference to\nbone and ivory over flint or stone, because the climatic conditions\nunder which they lived rendered those most accessible to them; and we\nsee in the familiar types of flint arrow heads, stone hammers, and the\nlike primitive tools of savage man, both in ancient and modern times,\nhow naturally the workman, with the same materials and similar\nnecessities, shapes his few and simple weapons and implements into like\nform. As to the absence of pottery, alike among the ancient\ncave-dwellers and the modern Eskimo, in which another element of\nresemblance is traced, it proves no more than that both had to work\nunder climatic conditions which rendered clay, adequate fuel, and nearly\nall other appliances of the potter, even less available than flint and\nstone.\n\nBut the caves of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re have furnished examples not only of skulls,\nbut of complete skeletons of an ancient race of cave-dwellers, whether\nthat of the ingenious draughtsmen and reindeer hunters or not; and had\nthose, or the underlying debris, yielded traces of the Eskimo type of\nhead, there would then be good reason for attaching an exceptional value\nto any evidence of correspondence in arts and habits. But the cerebral\ncapacity of this Cro-Magnon race amply accords with the artistic skill,\nand the sense of beauty and grace of natural form, ascribed to the\nancient draughtsmen; and their well-developed skulls and large bones\npresent the most striking contrast to the stunted Eskimo. The strongly\nmarked physiognomy of the former bears no resemblance to the debased\nMongolian type of the latter. No doubt it may be argued with sufficient\nplausibility that in the slow retreat of the pal\u00e6olithic race, whether\neastward by the river-valleys of Europe, and across the steppes of Asia,\nto Behring Strait; or over submerging continents, since engulfed in the\nocean; and in the vast \u00e6ons of their retreat to their latest home in\nanother hemisphere, on the verge of the pole, any amount of change may\nhave modified the physical characteristics of the race. But if so, the\nevidence of their pedigree is no longer producible. The Eskimo may be\nrelated by descent to the men of the French Reindeer period, as we\nourselves may be descendants of pal\u00e6olithic man; but, as Professor\nGeikie has justly remarked: \u201cWhen anthropologists produce from some of\nthe caves occupied by the reindeer hunters a cranium resembling that of\nthe living Eskimo, it will be time enough to admit that the latter has\ndescended from the former. But, unfortunately for the view here referred\nto, none of the skulls hitherto found affords it any support.\u201d[46] In\ntruth, the plausible fancy that the discoveries of the last twenty-five\nyears have tended to confirm the identification of the cave-men with the\nEskimo, only requires the full appreciation of all that it involves, in\norder that it shall take its place with that other identification with\nthe red man of the present day of \u201cDr. Dowler\u2019s sub-cypress Indian who\ndwelt on the site of New Orleans 57,000 years ago.\u201d\n\nThe received interpretation of the imperfect record which remains to us\nof the successive eras of geological change with the accompanying\nmodifications of animal life, down to the appearance of man, and the\ndeciphering of geological chroniclings as a coherent disclosure of the\npast history of the earth, are largely due to Sir Charles Lyell. In 1841\nhe visited America, and then estimated with cautious conservatism some\nof the evidences adduced for the assumed antiquity of American man. But\nsubsequent observations led him to modify his views; and at length, in\n1863, he \u201cread his recantation\u201d of earlier opinions; and\u2014so far at\nleast as Europe is concerned,\u2014gave the full weight of his authority to\nthe conclusions relative to the antiquity of man based on the discovery\nof flint implements associated with bones of extinct mammalia at\nAbbeville and in the valley of the Thames. The peculiar geological\nconditions accompanying the earliest evidence of the presence of\npal\u00e6olithic man in Europe proved, when rightly interpreted, to be no\nless convincing than the long-familiar sequence of more recent\narch\u00e6ological indices by which antiquarian speculation has proceeded\nstep by step back towards that prehistoric dawn in which geology and\narch\u00e6ology meet on common ground. The chalk and the overlying\nriver-drift, abounding with flint nodules, left no room for question as\nto the source of the raw material from which the primitive implements\nwere manufactured. The flint is still abundant as ever, in nodules of a\nsize amply sufficient for furnishing the largest pal\u00e6oliths, in the\nlocalities both of France and England where such specimens of primitive\nart have been recovered by thousands. But there also other disclosures\ntell no less conclusively of many subsequent stages of progress, alike\nin prehistoric and historic times.\n\nSir John Evans, in his _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_,\npurposely begins with the more recent implements, including those of the\nAustralian and other modern savage races, and traces his way backward,\n\u201cascending the stream of time,\u201d and noting the diverse examples of\ningeniously fashioned and polished tools of the Neolithic age which\npreceded that pal\u00e6olithic class, of vast antiquity and rudest\nworkmanship, which now constitute the earliest known works of man; if\nthey are not, indeed, examples of the first infantile efforts of human\nskill. But alike in Britain, and on the neighbouring continent, a\nchronological sequence of implements in stone and metal, with pottery,\npersonal ornaments, and other illustrations of progressive art, supplies\nthe evidence by means of which we are led backward\u2014not without some\nprolonged interruptions, as we approach the Pal\u00e6olithic age,\u2014from\nhistoric to the remotest prehistoric times.\n\nThe relative chronology of the European drift may be thus stated: first,\nand most modern, the superficial deposits of recent centuries with their\nmedi\u00e6val traces of Frank and Gaul; and along with those, the tombs, the\npottery, and other remains of the Roman period, scarcely perceptibly\naffected in their geological relations by nearly the whole interval of\nthe Christian era; next, in the alluvium, seemingly embedded by natural\naccumulation at an average depth of fifteen feet, occur remains of a\nEuropean Stone period, corresponding in many respects to those of the\npfahlbauten, or pile villages of the Swiss Lakes; and, underlying such\naccumulations exceeding in their duration the whole historical period,\nwe come at length to the tool-bearing drift, imbedding, along with the\nfossil remains of many extinct mammals, the implements of pal\u00e6olithic\nman, fashioned seemingly when the rivers were only beginning the work of\nexcavating the valleys which give their present contour to the\nlandscapes of France and England.\n\nThere, as elsewhere, we recognise progression from the most artless\nrudeness of tool manufacture, belonging to an epoch when the process of\ngrinding flint or stone to an edge appears to have been unknown; through\nvarious stages of the primitive worker in stone, bone, ivory, and the\nlike natural products; and then the discovery and gradual development of\nthe metallurgic arts. Yet at the same time it must not be lost sight of\nthat mere rudeness of workmanship is no evidence of antiquity. Nothing\ncan well be conceived of more artless than some of the stone implements\nstill in use among savage tribes of America. Moreover, it is to be noted\nthat it is not amid the privations of an Arctic winter, with its\nanalogies so suggestive of a condition of life corresponding to that of\nthe men of Europe\u2019s Pal\u00e6olithic age, but in southern latitudes, with a\nclimate which furnishes abundant resources for savage man, that the\ncrudest efforts at tool-making now occur. In a report of the _United\nStates Geological Survey_ for 1872, Professor Joseph Leidy furnishes an\ninteresting account of numerous implements, rude as any in the Drift,\nobserved by him while engaged on a survey at the base of the Unitah\nMountains in Southern Wyoming. \u201cIn some places,\u201d he remarks, \u201cthe stone\nimplements are so numerous, and at the same time are so rudely\nconstructed, that one is constantly in doubt when to consider them as\nnatural or accidental, and when to view them as artificial.\u201d[47] But\nwith these, others are mingled of fine finish. The Shoshones who haunt\nthe region seem to be incapable of such skill as the latter imply; and\nexpress the belief that they were a gift of the Great Spirit to their\nancestors. Yet many are fresh in appearance; though others are worn and\ndecomposed on the surface, and may, as Professor Leidy assumes, have\nlain there for centuries. The tendency is now, even among experienced\narch\u00e6ologists, to assume that they are actually pal\u00e6olithic. Mr. Thomas\nWilson remarks, in his _Report_ of 1887: \u201cDr. Leidy did not know these\nimplements to be what they really were, that is implements of the\nPal\u00e6olithic period.\u201d[48] But in view of Dr. Leidy\u2019s whole narrative, his\nassumption seems to be more consistent with the observed data. In the\nsame narrative he describes a stone scraper, or _teshoa_, as the\nShoshones call it, employed by them in the dressing of buffalo-skins,\nbut of so simple a character that he says, \u201chad I not observed it in\nactual use, and had noticed it among the materials of the buttes, or\nhorizontal strata of indurated clays and sandstone, I would have viewed\nit as an accidental spawl.\u201d When illustrating the characteristics of a\nlike class of stone implements and weapons of Great Britain, Sir John\nEvans figures and describes an axe, or war-club, procured from the\nIndians of Rio Frio in Texas. Its blade is a piece of trachyte, so\nrudely chipped that it would scarcely attract attention as of artificial\nworking, but for the club-like haft, evidently chopped into shape with\nstone tools, into which it is inserted. Nothing ruder has been brought\nto light in any drift or cave deposit.[49] Another modern Texas\nimplement, in the Smithonnia collections at Washington,[50] is a\nrudely-fashioned flint blade, presenting considerable resemblance to a\nfamiliar class of oval implements of the river-drift.\n\nSo far, therefore, as unskilled art and the mere rudeness of workmanship\nare concerned, it might be assumed that the aborigines of America are\nthus presented to our study in their most primitive stage. They had\nadvanced in no degree beyond the condition of the European savage of the\nRiver-Drift period, when, at the close of the fifteenth century, they\nwere brought into contact with modern European culture; and nothing in\ntheir rude arts seemed to offer a clue to their origin, or any evidence\nof progression. So far as anything could be learned from their work,\nthey might have entered on the occupation of the northern continent,\nsubsequent to the visits of the Northmen in the tenth century; and,\nindeed, American arch\u00e6ologists generally favour the opinion that the\n_Skr\u00e6lings_, as the Northmen designated the New England natives whom\nthey encountered, were not Red Indians but Eskimo. But whatever may have\nbeen the local distribution of races at that date, geological evidence,\nwhich has proved so conclusive in relation to European ethnology, has at\nlength been appealed to by American investigators, with results which\nseem to establish for their continent also its primeval Stone period,\nand remote prehistoric dawn.\n\nThe _Report of the Peabody Museum of American Arch\u00e6ology and Ethnology_\nfor 1877, gave the first publicity to a communication from Dr. Charles\nC. Abbott, setting forth the data from which he was led to assume that\nman existed on the American continent during the formation of the great\nglacial deposit which extends from Labrador as far south as Virginia.\nThe scene of his successful research is in the valley of the Delaware,\nnear Trenton, New Jersey. Though the relative antiquity of the Trenton\ngravel beds is modern compared with some subsequent disclosures, his\ndiscoveries have a special interest as foremost among those of\nimplement-bearing gravels in the New World. In the gravel, deposited by\nthe Delaware river in the process of excavating the valley through which\nits course now lies, Dr. Abbott\u2019s diligent search has been rewarded by\nfinding numerous specimens of rudely chipped implements of a peculiar\ntype, to which he has given the name of \u201cturtle-back celts.\u201d They are\nfashioned of a highly indurated argillite, with a conchoidal fracture,\nand have been recovered at depths varying from five to upwards of twenty\nfeet below the overlying soil, in the undisturbed gravel of the bluff\nfacing the Delaware river, as well as in railway cuttings and other\nexcavations.\n\nHere, to all appearance, intelligent research had at length been\nrewarded by the discovery of undoubted traces of the American\npal\u00e6olithic man; and Dr. Abbott, not unnaturally, gave free scope to his\nfancy, as he realised to himself the preoccupation of the river valley\nwith \u201cthe village sites of pre-glacial man.\u201d There is a fascination in\nsuch disclosures which, especially in the case of the original\ndiscoverer, tempts to extreme views; and both in France and England, at\nthe present time, the more eager among the geologists and arch\u00e6ologists\ndevoted to this inquiry are reluctantly restrained from assuming as a\nscientific fact the existence of man in Southern England and in France\nunder more genial climatic influences, prior to the great Ice age which\nwrought such enormous changes there. The theory which Dr. Abbott formed\non the basis of the evidence first presented to him by the disclosures\nof the Trenton gravel may be thus stated. Towards the close of the great\nIce age, the locality which has rewarded his search for specimens of\npal\u00e6olithic art marked the termination of the glacier on the Atlantic\ncoast. Here, at the foot of the glacier, a primitive people, in a\ncondition closely analogous to that of the Eskimo of the present day,\nmade their home, and wandered over the open sea in the vicinity, during\nthe accumulation of the deposit from the melting glacier. But this\ndrift-gravel was modified by subsequent action. According to Dr.\nAbbott\u2019s conclusions, it was deposited in open water, on the bed of a\nshallow sea. But the position of the large boulders, and the absence of\ntrue clay in the mass, suggest that it has undergone great changes since\nits original deposition as glacial debris; and if this is to be\naccounted for by subsequent action of water, the unpolished surfaces of\nthe chipped implements are inconsistent with such a theory of their\norigin. Huge boulders, of the same character as those which abound in\nthe underlying gravel, occur on the surface; and their presence there\nwas referred to by Dr. Abbott as throwing light upon \u201cthe occurrence of\nrude implements identical with those found in the underlying gravels,\ninasmuch as the same ice-raft that bore the one, with its accompanying\nsand and gravel, might well gather up also stray relics of this\nprimitive people, and re-deposit them where they are now found.\u201d\nAccordingly, seeking in fancy to recall this ancient past, he says in\nhis first report: \u201cIn times preceding the formation of this gravel bed,\nnow in part facing the Delaware river, there were doubtless localities,\nonce the village sites of pre-glacial man, where these rude stone\nimplements would necessarily be abundant,\u201d and he accordingly asks \u201cMay\nnot the ice in its onward march, gathering in bulk every loose fragment\nof rock and particle of soil, have held them loosely together, and,\nhundreds of miles from their original site, left them in some one\nlocality such as this, where the river has again brought to light rude\nimplements that characterise an almost primitive people? But, assuming\nthat the various implements fashioned by a strictly pre-glacial people\nhave been totally destroyed by the crushing forces of the glacier, and\nthat the specimens now produced were not brought from a distance, may\nthey not be referred to an early race that, driven southward by the\nencroaching ice, dwelt at the foot of the glacier, and during their\nsojourn here these implements were lost?\u201d[51]\n\nThe opinions thus set forth in the first published account of Dr.\nAbbott\u2019s discoveries, have since been considerably modified, in so far\nas the geological age of the tool-bearing gravel of the Delaware valley\nis concerned. In his earlier publications he assumed, as no longer\nquestionable, the existence of inter-glacial, if not pre-glacial, man on\nthe continent. In his more matured views, as set forth in his _Primitive\nIndustry_, he speaks of \u201chaving been seriously misled by the various\ngeological reports that purport to give, in proper sequence, the\nrespective ages of the several strata of clay, gravel, boulders, and\nsand, through which the river has finally worn its channel to the ocean\nlevel\u201d;[52] so that he has probably ascribed too great an antiquity to\nthe peculiar class of stone implements brought to light in the\nriver-gravels of New Jersey. Dr. Abbott, accordingly, states as his more\nmatured conclusion, confirmed by the reports of some of the most\nexperienced geological observers, on whose judgment he relies, that the\nTrenton gravel, in which alone the turtle-back celts have thus far been\nfound, is a post-glacial river deposit, made at a time when the river\nwas larger than at present; and is the most recent of all the formations\nof the Delaware.[53] Here, however, the term \u201crecent\u201d is employed\naltogether relatively; and although Dr. Abbott no longer claims in the\ndiscovery of the stone implements of the gravel beds near Trenton, New\nJersey, evidence of the existence of man on the American continent\nbefore the close of the Glacial period, he still refers the Trenton\ngravel tool-makers to an era which, at the lowest computation, precedes\nby thousands of years the earliest historical glimpses of Assyria,\nEgypt, or wherever among the most ancient nations of the Old World the\nbeginnings of history can be traced.\n\nThe disclosures of Dr. Abbott claim a special importance among the\nfruits of arch\u00e6ological investigation on the American continent, not\nonly from the fact that they furnish the first well-authenticated\nresults of systematic research based on the scientific analogies of\nEuropean arch\u00e6ology, but these later results have included the remains\nof man himself. When Dr. Usher of Mobile contributed to _The Types of\nMankind_ an account of the discovery of a human skeleton at New Orleans,\nfound under circumstances from which the existence of man in the delta\nof the Mississippi was deduced well nigh sixty thousand years ago, it\nwas scarcely calculated to win the reader\u2019s acceptance of that\nassumption when it was added that \u201cthe type of the cranium was, as might\nhave been expected, that of the aboriginal American race.\u201d Nor is this\nthe only example of skull of a strictly modern Indian type from which\nthe inference has been drawn that the same unchanging form has prevailed\nfrom the era of pre-glacial American man till now. Three human crania\nfound in the Trenton gravel are now in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge\n(Harvard). All are of the same type, but it differs essentially from\nthat of the Red Indian skull. They are of small size, oval, and present\na striking contrast to all other skulls in the Peabody collection. Their\nvalue is due to the fact of their discovery in the implement-bearing\ngravel, in proximity to the characteristic examples of what are assumed\nto be pal\u00e6olithic celts. For it is well for us to bear in remembrance\nthat the evidences of the antiquity of man in Europe do not rest on any\nnumber of chance disclosures. It is a simple procedure to dig into a\nCeltic or Saxon barrow, and find there the implements and pottery of its\nbuilders lying alongside of their buried remains. But arch\u00e6ologists have\nlearned to recognise the pal\u00e6olithic implements as not less\ncharacteristic of certain post-pliocene deposits than the pal\u00e6ontology\nof the same geological formation. The river-drift and cave deposits are\ncharacterised by traces of contemporaneous life, as shown in the\nexamples of primitive art from which they receive the name of the\ntool-bearing drift or gravel; just as older geological formations have\ntheir characteristic animal and vegetable fossils. The specific\ncharacter of the tool-bearing gravel of the French Drift having been\ndetermined, geologists and arch\u00e6ologists have sought for flint\nimplements in corresponding English strata, as they would seek for the\nfossils of the same period, and with like success. Pal\u00e6olithic\nimplements have been recovered in this manner in Suffolk, Bedford,\nHartford, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, and other districts in the south of\nEngland. So entirely indeed has the man of the Drift passed beyond the\nprovince of the arch\u00e6ologist, that in 1861 Professor Prestwich followed\nup his _Notes on Further Discoveries of Flint Implements in Beds of\nPost-Pleiocene Gravel and Clay_, with a list of forty-one localities\nwhere gravel and clay pits or gravel beds occur, as some of the places\nin the south of England where he thought flint implements might also by\ndiligent search possibly be found; and subsequent discoveries confirmed\nhis anticipations. It has been by the application of the same principle\nto the drift and river-valley gravels of the New World that a like\nsuccess has been achieved. The result of a careful study of the\ntool-bearing gravel of the Delaware may be thus summarised from recent\nreports of trustworthy scientific observers. The Trenton gravel is a\npost-glacial river deposit, made at a time when the river was larger\nthan its present volume. It represents apparently the latest of the\nsurface deposits of the upper Delaware valley;[54] and Dr. Abbott\nremarks of it: \u201cThe melting of a local glacier in the Cattskill\nMountains would probably result, at the headwaters of the Delaware, in a\ncontinued flood of sufficient volume, if supplemented by the action of\nfloating ice, to form the Trenton gravels.\u201d[55] But these gravels are\nnow recognised as the youngest of the series of ancient\nimplement-bearing deposits. Underneath lies the older Columbia gravel,\nwhich has also yielded\u2014though in much fewer numbers,\u2014pal\u00e6oliths of\nprimitive types. The researches of Mr. Hilborne T. Cresson in the State\nof Delaware have already been referred to; and from those results, as\nwell as from similar disclosures in Ohio and Indiana, it is no longer\ndoubted that reliable traces have been recovered of American man\ncontemporary with the mammoth and the mastodon; and\u2014like the old\ncave-dwellers of Cro-Magnon,\u2014a hunter of the reindeer in the valley of\nthe Delaware.\n\nAmerican arch\u00e6ologists have undoubtedly been repeatedly deceived by the\nmisleading traces of comparatively modern remains in deposits of some\ngeological antiquity; as in instances already referred to in the\nCalifornia gravel beds. In these, indeed, ground and polished\ninstruments of stone, including a \u201cplummet\u201d of highly polished syenite,\n\u201can exhibition of the lapidary\u2019s skill superior to anything yet\nfurnished by the Stone age of either continent,\u201d[56] are produced from\ntime to time from the same post-pliocene formation where the remains of\nthe elephant and mastodon abound. Dr. Abbott did not overlook the danger\nto which the arch\u00e6ologist is thus exposed on a continent which, so far\nas its aborigines are concerned, has scarcely yet emerged from its Stone\nage. He accordingly remarked in his original report: \u201cThe chance\noccurrence of single specimens of the ordinary forms of Indian relics,\nat depths somewhat greater than they have usually reached, even in\nconstantly cultivated soils, induced me, several years since, to\ncarefully examine the underlying gravels, to determine if the common\nsurface-found stone implements of Indian origin were ever found therein,\nexcept in such manner as might easily be explained, as in the case of\ndeep burials by the uprooting of large trees, whereby an implement lying\non the surface, or immediately below it, might fall into the gravel\nbeneath, and subsequently become buried several feet in depth; and\nlastly, by the action of the water, as where a spring, swollen by spring\nfreshets, cuts for itself a new channel, and carrying away a large body\nof earth, leaves its larger pebbles, and possibly stone implements of\nlate origin, upon the gravel of the new bed of the stream.\u201d But there is\nlittle difficulty in separating chance-buried neolithic or modern\nimplements from the genuine pal\u00e6olithic celts or hatchets abundantly\npresent in the undisturbed gravel beds, from which they have been taken\non their first exposure.\n\nProfessor Henry C. Lewis, of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, states\nthat \u201cat the localities on the Pennsylvania Railroad, where extensive\nexposures of these gravels have been made, the deposit is undoubtedly\nundisturbed. No implement could have come into this gravel except at a\ntime when the river flowed upon it, and when they might have sunk\nthrough the loose and shifting material. All the evidence points to the\nconclusion that at the time of the Trenton gravel flood, Man, in a rude\nstate, with habits similar to those of the river-drift hunter of Europe,\nand probably under a climate similar to that of more northern regions,\nlived upon the banks of the ancient Delaware, and lost his stone\nimplements in the shifting sands and gravel of the bed of that\nstream.\u201d[57] To this Dr. Abbott adds: \u201cAt just such a locality as\nTrenton, where the river widens out, traces of man, had he existed\nduring the accumulation of the gravel, would be most likely to occur.\nThis is true not only because there is here the greatest mass of the\ngravel, and the best opportunities for examining it in section, but the\nlocality would be one most favourable for the existence of man at the\ntime. The higher ground in the immediate vicinity was sufficiently\nelevated to be free from the encroachments of the ice and water, and the\nclimate, soil, and fauna are all such as to make it possible for man to\nexist at this time in this locality.\u201d[58] In 1878 the tusk of a mastodon\nwas found under partially stratified gravel at a depth of fourteen feet;\nand Dr. Abbott states that, within a few yards of this, pal\u00e6olithic\nimplements have been gathered, one at the same and three at greater\ndepths. Now that an intelligent interest has been awakened in the\nsubject, numerous labourers are enlisted in its elucidation. To this a\ncoherent unity has been given by the arch\u00e6ologists of the Peabody Museum\nat Harvard, and the curators of the National Museum at Washington. The\nresults of a systematic inquiry by the latter into the localities and\nnumbers of examples of supposed pal\u00e6olithic works of art already\nrecovered, have disclosed abundant confirmatory evidence. Special\nattention was invited to the occurrence of surface-finds, as well as to\nthe depth and the geological indications of age in those recovered from\nexcavations or chance exposures under the surface. Of the superficial\nexamples the proof of the occurrence of stone implements of pal\u00e6olithic\ntypes over widely diffused areas, from New England to Texas, is\nabundant. Much caution is required in the conclusions derived from such\nimplements found exposed, or in superficial deposits, on a continent\nwhere weapons and implements of stone are still in frequent use. But\nafter the elimination of all doubtful examples, abundant evidence\nremains of the presence of man on the American continent in a\nPal\u00e6olithic as well as an early Neolithic age. An interesting _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_\nof recent evidence is embodied in the \u201cResults of an Inquiry as to the\nExistence of Man in North America during the Pal\u00e6olithic Period of the\nStone Age,\u201d by Mr. Thomas Wilson of the National Museum at\nWashington.[59]\n\nIt may still be a question whether the Pal\u00e6olithic age of the New World\nis equally remote with that of the eastern hemisphere. The date\napproximately assigned thus far to the American Pal\u00e6olithic era is,\ngeologically speaking, recent; and on that very account adapts itself to\nother favoured assumptions, such as the supposed Eskimo pedigree derived\nfrom the race of Europe\u2019s Reindeer period. This chimes in with the old\nidea of the American antiquary that the _Skr\u00e6lings_ referred to in the\nEric Saga were Eskimo, as is far from improbable, though the assumption\nrests on no definite evidence. Dr. Abbott accordingly reproduces the\nstatement of Professor Dawkins, in confirmation of the revived belief.\n\u201cWe are without a clue to the ethnology of the river-drift man, who most\nprobably is as completely extinct at the present time as the woolly\nrhinoceros or the cave-bear; but the discoveries of the last twenty\nyears have tended to confirm the identification of the cave-man with the\nEskimo.\u201d Such a fanciful hypothesis once accepted as fact, its\napplication to American ethnology is easy; and so Dr. Abbott proceeds to\nappeal unhesitatingly to evidence sufficient \u201cto warrant the assertion\nthat the pal\u00e6olithic man on the one hand, and the makers of the\nargillite spear points on the other, stand in the relationship of\nancestor and descendant; and if the latter, as is probable, is in turn\nthe ancestor of the modern Eskimo: then does it not follow that the\nRiver-drift and Cave-man of Europe, supposing the relationship of the\nlatter to the Eskimo to be correct, bear the same close relationship to\neach other as do the American representatives of these earliest of\npeople?\u201d[60]\n\nSuch an appeal to European arch\u00e6ology can scarcely fail to suggest some\nvery striking contrasts thereby involved. As the thoughtful student\ndwells on all the phenomena of change and geological revolution which he\nhas to encounter in seeking to assign to the man of the European Drift\nhis place in vanished centuries, his mind is lost in amazement at the\nvista of that long-forgotten past. Yet inadequate as the intermediate\nsteps may appear, there are progressive stages. Amid all the\noverwhelming sense of the vastness of the period embraced in the changes\nwhich he reviews, the mind rests from time to time at well-defined\nstations, in tracking the way backward, through ages of historical\nantiquity, into the night of time, and so to that dim dawn of mechanical\nskill and rational industry in which the first tool-makers plied their\ningenious arts. But, so far as yet appears, it is wholly otherwise\nthroughout the whole western continent, from the Gulf of Mexico\nnorthward to the pole. North America has indeed a Copper age of its own\nvery markedly defined; for the shores and islands of Lake Superior are\nrich in pure native copper, available for industrial resources without\neven the most rudimentary knowledge of metallurgic arts. But the tools\nand personal ornaments fashioned out of this more workable material are\nlittle, if at all, in advance of the implements of stone; and, with this\nexception, the primitive industry of North America manifests wondrously\nslight traces of progression through all the ages now assigned to man\u2019s\npresence on the continent.\n\nThe means available for forming some just estimate of the character of\nnative American art are now abundant. In the National Museum at\nWashington; the Peabody Museum at Cambridge, Mass.; the Peabody Academy\nat Salem; the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia; the American\nAntiquarian Society at Worcester, Mass.; and in various Historical\nSocieties and University Museums throughout the States; the student of\nAmerican arch\u00e6ology has the means of obtaining a comprehensive view of\nthe native arts. At the Centennial Exposition of Philadelphia in 1876,\nthe various States vied with one another in producing an adequate\nrepresentation of the antiquities specially characteristic of their own\nlocalities; and numerous valuable reports, of the Smithsonian\nInstitution, the United States Geographical Surveys, the Geological\nSurvey of Canada, and the Geological Surveys of various States, have\nfurnished data for determining the prehistoric chroniclings of the\nnorthern continent.\n\nOne of the latest publications of this class is Dr. Abbott\u2019s own volume,\nentitled _Primitive Industry: or Illustrations of the Handiwork in\nStone, Bone, and Clay of the native Races of the Northern Atlantic\nSeaboard of America_. It is a most instructive epitome of North American\narch\u00e6ology. Notwithstanding the limits set in the title, works in metal\nas well as in stone are included; and what are the results? Twenty-one\nout of its twenty-three chapters are devoted to the detailed\nillustrations of stone and flint axes, celts, hammers, chisels,\nscrapers, drills, knives, etc. Fish-hooks, fish-spears, awls or bodkins,\nand other implements of bone, pottery, pipes both in stone and clay, and\npersonal ornaments, receive the like detailed illustration; but nearly\nall are in the rudest stage of rudimentary art. An advance upon this is\nseen in the pottery of some southern states. That of the Mound-Builders\nappears to have shown both more artistic design and better finish. The\ncarving in bone, ivory, and slate-stone of various western tribes, as\nwell as of the extinct Mound-Builders, was also of a higher character.\nBut taking them at their highest, they cannot compare in practical skill\nor variety of application with the industrial arts of Europe\u2019s Neolithic\nage; and we look in vain for any traces of higher progress. For well\nnigh four centuries, this continent has been familiar to European\nexplorers and settlers. During some considerable portion of that time,\nby means of agricultural operations, and all the incidents consequent on\nurban settlement, its virgin soil has been turned up over\never-increasing areas. For nearly forty years I have myself watched,\nwith the curious interest of one previously familiar with the minute\nincidents of arch\u00e6ological research in Britain, the urban excavations,\nrailway cuttings, and other undesigned explorations of Canadian soil.\nWithin the same period, both in Canada and the United States, extensive\ncanal, railway, and road-works have afforded abundant opportunities for\nresearch; and a widespread interest in American antiquities has tended\nto confer an even exaggerated importance on every novel discovery. And\nwith what result? Dr. Abbott, in crowning such explorations with his\ninteresting and valuable discovery of the turtle-back celts and other\nimplements of the Delaware gravel, has epitomised the prehistoric record\nof the northern continent. The further back we date the presence of man\nin America, the more marvellous must his unprogressive condition appear.\nWhatever may be the ampler disclosures relative to the pal\u00e6olithic or\nprimeval race, it does not seem probable that this northern continent\nwill now yield any antiquities suggestive of an extinct era of native\nart and civilisation. Here we cannot hope to find a buried Ilium, or\nTadmor in the Wilderness. Everywhere the explorer wanders, and the\nagriculturist follows, turning up the soil, or digging deeper as he\ndrains and builds; but only to disturb the grave of the savage hunter.\nThe Mound-Builders of its great river-valleys have indeed left there\ntheir enduring earthworks, wrought at times in regular geometrical\nconfiguration on a gigantic scale, strangely suggestive of some\noverruling and informing mind guiding the hand of the earthworker. But\ntheir mounds and earthworks disclose only implements of bone and flint\nor stone, with here and there an equally rude tool of hammered native\ncopper. The crudest metallurgy of Europe\u2019s Copper age was unknown to\ntheir builders. The art of Tubal-cain, the primitive worker in brass and\niron, had not dawned on the mind of any native artificer. Only the\ningeniously carved tobacco pipe, or the better-fashioned pottery, gives\nthe slightest hint of even such progress beyond the first infantile\nstage of the tool-maker as is shown in the artistic carvings of the\ncave-men contemporary with the mammoth and the reindeer of post-glacial\nFrance.\n\nThe civilisation of Central and Southern America is a wholly distinct\nthing; and, as I think, not without some suggestive traces of Asiatic\norigin; but the attempts to connect it with that of ancient Egypt,\nsuggested mainly by the hieroglyphic sculpturing on their columns and\ntemples, find their confutation the moment we attempt to compare the\nEgyptian calendar with that either of Mexico or Peru. Traces of worship\nof the sun, the earliest of all forms of natural religion, have\nundoubtedly been recovered among widely scattered tribes of North\nAmerica; but there is no evidence that it was accompanied with any\ndefinite mensuration of the solar year, or the construction of a\ncalendar. The changes of the seasons sufficed for the division of the\nyear, not only into summer and winter, but into the diverse aspects of\nthe seasons from month to month; as is shown in the names given to the\n\u201cmoons\u201d in various native vocabularies. It was otherwise on the southern\ncontinent, and among the civilised nations of Central America. But the\ninterblending of the science of astronomy with the religious rites of\nthe State produced the wonted results; and this was peculiarly the case\nin Peru, with its equatorial site for the temple of the Sun-God; and his\nseeming literal presence on his altar at recurrent festivals. There\naccordingly, even as in ancient Egypt, the divine honours paid to the\nheavenly bodies was an impediment to the progress of astronomical\nobservation. Eclipses were regarded with the same superstitious dread as\namong the rudest savage nations; and the conservatism of an established\nnational creed must have proved peculiarly unfavourable to astronomical\nscience. The impediments to Galileo\u2019s observations were trifling\ncompared with those which must have beset the Inca priest who ventured\nto question the diurnal revolution of the sun round the earth, or to\nsolve the awful mystery of an eclipse by so simple an explanation as the\ninterposition of the moon between the sun and the earth. The Mexican\nCalendar Stone, which embodies evidence of greater knowledge, was\nbelieved by Humboldt to indicate unmistakable relations to the ancient\nscience of South-Eastern Asia. It is of more importance here to note the\nshortness of the Mexican cycle, and the small amount of error in their\ndeviation from true solar time, as compared with the European calendar\nat the time when the Spaniards first intruded on Montezuma\u2019s rule. That\nthe Spaniards were ten days in error, as compared with the Aztec\nreckoning, only demonstrates the length of time during which error had\nbeen accumulating in the reformed Julian calendar of Europe; and so\ntends to confirm the idea that the civilisation of the Mexicans was of\nno very great antiquity.\n\nThe whole evidence supplied by Northern arch\u00e6ology proves that in so far\nas it had any civilisation of foreign origin, it must have been derived\nfrom the South, where alike in Central and in Southern America, diverse\nraces, and a native civilisation replete with elements of progress, have\nleft behind them many enduring memorials of skill and ingenuity. But the\nextremely slight and very partial traces of its influence on any people\nof the northern continent would of itself suffice to awaken doubts as to\nits long duration. The civilisation of Greece and Rome did indeed\nexercise no direct influence on transalpine Europe; but long centuries\nbefore the Romans crossed the Alps, as the disclosures of the lake\nvillages, the crannoges, the kitchen middens, and the sepulchral mounds\nof Central and Northern Europe prove, the nations beyond their ken were\nfamiliar with weaving, and with the ceramic and metallurgic arts; were\nfar advanced as agriculturists, had domesticated animals, acquired\nsystems of phonetic writing, and learned the value of a currency of the\nprecious metals.\n\nMidway between North America with its unredeemed barbarism, and the\nsouthern seats of a native American civilisation, Mexico represents, as\nI believe, the first contact of the latter with the former. A gleam of\nlight was just beginning to dawn on the horizon of the northern\ncontinent. The long night of its Dark Ages was coming to a close, when\nthe intrusion of the Spaniards abruptly arrested the incipient\ncivilisation, and began the displacement of its aborigines and the\nrepetition of the Aryan ethnical revolution, which had already\nsupplanted the autochthones of prehistoric Europe.\n\nThe publication in 1848 of the first volume of the _Smithsonian\nContributions to Knowledge_, devoted to the history and explorations of\nthe ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, gave a wonderful\nstimulus to arch\u00e6ological research in the United States. For a time,\nindeed, much credulous zeal was devoted to the search for buried cities,\ninscribed records, and the fancied recovery, in more or less modified\nform, in northern areas, of the civilisation of the Aztecs; not\nunmingled with dreams of Ph\u0153nician, Hebrew, Scandinavian, and Welsh\nremains. The history of some of its spurious productions is not without\ninterest; but its true fruits are seen in numerous works which have\nsince issued from the American press, devoted to an accurate record of\nlocal antiquities. So thoroughly has this already been carried out, that\nit may now be affirmed that, to all appearance, the condition of the\nIndian tribes to the north of Mexico, as shown in the rude arts of a\nStone age, scarcely at all affected in its character by their use of the\nnative copper of Lake Superior, represents what prevailed throughout the\nwhole northern continent in all the centuries\u2014however prolonged,\u2014since\nthe hunters in the Delaware valley fashioned and employed their\nturtle-back celts.\n\nThe condition of the nations of North America at the period of its\ndiscovery, at the close of the fifteenth century, may be described as\none of unstable equilibrium; and nothing in its arch\u00e6ological records\npoints to an older period of any prolonged duration of settled progress.\nThe physical geography of the continent presents in many respects such a\ncontrast to that of Europe, as is seen in the steppes of Northern Asia,\nthough with great navigable rivers, which only needed the appliances of\nmodern civilisation to make them for the New World what the Euphrates\nand the Tigris were to Southern Asia, and the Nile to Africa, in ancient\ncenturies. Those vast tablelands, the great steppes of Mongolia and\nIndependent Tartary, have ever been the haunts of predatory tribes by\nwhom the civilisation of Southern Asia has been repeatedly overthrown;\nand from the same barbarian hive came the Huns who ravaged the Roman\nworld in its decline. Europe, on the contrary, nursed its youthful\ncivilisation among detached communities of its southern peninsulas on\nthe Mediterranean Sea; and in later ages has repeatedly experienced the\nadvantages of geographical isolation in the valleys of the Alps, in\nNorway and Denmark, in Portugal, the Netherlands, and the British\nIslands: where nations protected in their youth from predatory hordes,\nand sheltered during critical periods of change, have safely passed\nthrough their earlier stages of progress.\n\nAll that we know or can surmise of the nations of North America,\npresents a total contrast to this. In so far as the mystery of its\nprehistoric Mound-Builders has been solved, we see there a people who\nhad attained to a grade of civilisation not greatly dissimilar to that\nof the village communities of New Mexico and Arizona; and who had\nsettled down in the Ohio valley, perhaps while feudal Europe was still\nonly emerging from medi\u00e6val rudeness, if not at an earlier date. The\ngreat river-valley was occupied by populous urban centres of an\nindustrious community. Agriculture, though prosecuted only with the\nsimplest implements, chiefly of wood and stone, must have been practised\non an extensive scale. The primitive arts of the potter were improved;\nthe copper abounding in the remote region on the shores of Lake Superior\nwas prized as a rarity; though metallurgy in its practical applications\nhad scarcely entered on its first stage. The nation was in its infancy;\nbut it had passed beyond the rude hunter state, and was entering on a\nsettled life, with all possibilities of progress in the future, when the\nfierce nomads of the north swept down on the populous valley, and left\nit a desolate waste. If so, it was but a type of the whole native\nhistory of the continent.\n\nFrom all that can be gleaned, alike from arch\u00e6ological chroniclings,\nIndian tradition, and the actual facts of history in the seventeenth and\neighteenth centuries, the condition of the whole population of the\nnorthern continent has ever been the same. It might not inaptly be\ncompared to an ever-recurring springtide, followed by frosts that nipped\nthe young germ, and rendered the promised fruitage abortive. Throughout\nthe whole period of French and English colonial history, the influence\nof one or two savage but warlike tribes is traceable from the St.\nLawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; and the rival nations were exposed to\nsuch constant warfare that it is more than doubtful if the natural\nincrease of population was latterly equal to the waste of war. Almost\nthe sole memorials of vanished nations are the names of some of their\nmountain ranges and rivers. It is surmised, as already noted, that the\nAllighewi, or Tallegwi, to whom the name common to the Alleghany\nMountains and river is traced, were the actual Mound-Builders.[61] If\nso, the history of their overthrow is not wholly a matter of surmise.\nThe traditions of the Delawares told that the Alleghans were a powerful\nnation reaching to the eastern shores of the Mississippi, where their\npalisaded towns occupied all the choicest sites in the Ohio valley; but\nthe Wyandots, or Iroquois, including perhaps the Eries, who had\nestablished themselves on the headwaters of the chief rivers that rise\nimmediately to the south of the great lakes, combined with the\nDelawares, or Lenape nation, to crush that ancient people; and the\ndecimated Alleghans were driven down the Mississippi, and dispersed.\nSome surviving remnant, such as even a war of extermination spares, may\nhave been absorbed into the conquering nation, after the fashion\nsystematically pursued by the Huron-Iroquois in the seventeenth and\neighteenth centuries. Nor is this a mere conjecture. Mr. Horatio Hale,\nrecognising the evident traces in the Cherokee language of a grammar\nmainly Huron-Iroquois, while the vocabulary is largely recruited from\nsome foreign source, thinks it not improbable that the origin of the\nCherokee nation may have been due to a union of the survivors of the old\nMound-Builder stock with some branch of the conquering race; just as in\n1649 a fugitive remnant of the Hurons from the Georgian Bay were adopted\ninto the Seneca nation;[62] and a few years later such of the captive\nEries as escaped torture and the stake were admitted into affiliation\nwith their conquerors.[63]\n\nThe whole region to the east of the Mississippi, from the fifty-second\nto the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, appears to have been\noccupied by the two great Indian stocks, the Algonquin-Lenape and the\nIroquois. But Gallatin, who directed special attention to the\ndetermination of the elements of philological affinity between them,\nrecognised to the south of their region the existence of at least three\nessentially distinct languages of extensive use: the Catawba, the\nCherokee, and that which he assumed to include in a common origin, both\nthe Muskhogee and the Choctaw.[64] But besides those, six\nwell-ascertained languages of smaller tribes, including those of the\nUchees and the Natchez, appear to demand separate recognition. Their\nregion differs essentially from those over which the Algonquin and\nIroquois war-parties ranged at will. It is broken up by broad river\nchannels, and intersected by impenetrable swamps; and has thus afforded\nrefuge for the remnants of conquered tribes, and for the preservation of\ndistinct languages among small bands of refugees. The Timucuas were the\nancient occupants of Florida; but they appear to have been displaced by\nthe Chatta-Muskogee nations; driven forth, as is surmised, from their\nhomes in the Ohio valley; and the older race is only known now by the\npreservation of its language in works of the Spanish missionaries.[65]\n\nWhen the Ohio valley was first explored it was uninhabited; and in the\nlatter part of the seventeenth century the whole region extending from\nLake Erie to the Tennessee river was an unpeopled desert. But the\nCherokees were in the occupation of their territory when first visited\nby De Soto in 1540; and they are described by Bertram in 1773, with\ntheir great council-house, capable of accommodating several hundreds,\nerected on the summit of one of the large mounds, in their town of Cowe,\non the Tanase river, in Florida. But Bertram adds: \u201cThis mound on which\nthe rotunda stands, is of a much ancienter date than the building, and\nperhaps was raised for another purpose. The Cherokees themselves are as\nignorant as we are by what people, or for what purpose, these artificial\nhills were raised.\u201d[66] It would, indeed, no more occur to those\nwanderers into the deserted regions of the Mound-Builders to inquire\ninto the origin of their mounds, than into that of the Alleghany\nMountains.\n\nIf then it is probable that we thus recover some clue to the identity of\nthe vanished race of the Ohio valley, the very designation of the river\nis a memorial of their supplanters. The Ohio is an Iroquois name given\nto the river of the Alleghans by that indomitable race of savage\nwarriors who effectually counteracted the plans of France, under her\ngreatest monarchs, for the settlement of the New World. Their historian,\nthe late Hon. L. H. Morgan, remarks of the Iroquois: \u201cThey achieved for\nthemselves a more remarkable civil organisation, and acquired a higher\ndegree of influence, than any other race of Indian lineage except those\nof Mexico and Peru. In the drama of European colonisation, they stood,\nfor nearly two centuries, with an unshaken front, against the\ndevastations of war, the blighting influence of foreign intercourse, and\nthe still more fatal encroachments of a restless and advancing border\npopulation. Under their federal system, the Iroquois flourished in\nindependence, and capable of self-protection, long after the New England\nand Virginia races had surrendered their jurisdictions, and fallen into\nthe condition of dependent nations; and they now stand forth upon the\ncanvas of Indian history, prominent alike for the wisdom of their civil\ninstitutions, their sagacity in the administration of the league, and\ntheir courage in its defence.\u201d[67] But to characterise the elements of\ncombined action among the Six Nation Indians as wise civil institutions;\nor to use such terms as league and federal system in the sense in which\nthey are employed by the historian of the Iroquois; is to suggest\nassociations that are illusory. With all the romance attached to the\nLeague of the Hodenosauneega, they were to the last mere savages. When\nthe treaty which initiated the great league was entered into by its two\noldest members, the Mohawks and the Oneidas, the former claimed the name\nof Kanienga, or \u201cPeople of the Flint.\u201d Whatever may have been the\nprecise idea they attached to the designation, they were, as they\nremained to the last, but in their Stone period. Their arts were of the\nrudest character, and their wars had no higher aim than the\ngratification of an inextinguishable hatred. All that we know of them\nonly serves to illustrate a condition of life such as may have sufficed\nthrough countless generations to perpetuate the barbarism which\neverywhere reveals itself in the traces of man throughout the northern\ncontinent of America. One nation after another perished by the fury of\nthis race, powerful only to destroy. The Susquehannocks, whose name\nstill clings to the beautiful river on the banks of which they once\ndwelt, are believed to have been of the same lineage as the Alleghans;\nbut they incurred the wrath of the Iroquois, and perished. At a later\ndate the Delawares provoked a like vengeance; and the remnant of that\nnation quitted for ever the shores of the river which perpetuates their\nname. Such in like manner was the fate of the Shawnees, Nanticokes,\nUnamis, Minsi, and Illinois. All alike were vanquished, reduced to the\ncondition of serfs, or driven out and exterminated.\n\nThe tribes that lived to the west of the Mississippi appear to have been\nfor the most part more strictly nomad. The open character of the\ncountry, with its vast tracts of prairie, and its herds of buffalo and\nother game, no doubt helped to encourage a wandering life. The Crees,\nthe Blackfeet, the Sioux, Cheyennes, Comanches, and Apaches were all of\nthis class, and with their interminable feuds and perpetual migrations\nrendered all settled life impossible. The Mandans, the most civilised\namong the tribes of the North-West, abandoned village after village\nunder the continual attacks of the Sioux, until they disappeared as a\nnation; and the little handful of survivors found shelter with another\ntribe.\n\nAll this was the work of Indians. The Spaniards, indeed, wasted and\ndestroyed with no less merciless indiscrimination. Not only nations\nperished, but a singularly interesting phase of native civilisation was\nabruptly arrested in Mexico, Central America, and Peru. The intrusion of\nFrench, Dutch, and English colonists was, no doubt, fatal to the\naborigines whom they supplanted. Nevertheless their record is not one of\nindiscriminate massacre. The relations of the French, especially with\nthe tribes with whom they were brought into immediate contact, were on\nthe whole kindly and protective. But as we recover the history of the\nnative tribes whose lands are now occupied by the representatives of\nthose old colonists, we find the Indians everywhere engaged in the same\nexterminating warfare; and whether we look at the earlier maps, or\nattempt to reconstruct the traditionary history of older tribes, we\nlearn only the same tale of aimless strife and extinction. When Cartier\nfirst explored the St. Lawrence in 1535 he found large Indian\nsettlements at Quebec and on the island of Montreal; but on the return\nof the French under Champlain, little more than half a century later,\nthere were none left to dispute their settlement. At the later date, and\nthroughout the entire period of French occupation, the country to the\nsouth of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario was occupied by the Iroquois,\nor Six Nation Indians, as they were latterly called. Westward of the\nriver Ottawa the whole region was deserted until near the shores of the\nGeorgian Bay; though its early explorers found everywhere the traces of\nrecent occupation by the Wyandot or other tribes, who had withdrawn to\nthe shores of Lake Huron to escape the fury of their implacable foes.\n\nAt the period when the Hurons were first brought under the notice of the\nFrench Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century they were\nestablished along the Georgian Bay and around Lake Simcoe; and in so far\nas the wild virtues of the savage warrior are concerned, they fully\nequalled the Iroquois by whom they were at length driven out and nearly\nexterminated. When Locke visited Paris in 1679 the narratives of the\nJesuit fathers had rendered familiar the unflinching endurance of this\nrace under the frightful tortures to which they were subjected by their\nIroquois captors; and which they, in turn, not only inflicted on their\ncaptive foes, but on one after another of the missionaries whose devoted\nzeal exposed them to their fury. We now read with interest this\nreflection noted in Locke\u2019s Journal, in which he recognises in these\nsavages the common motives of humanity; the same desire to win credit\nand reputation, and to avoid shame and disgrace, which animates all men:\n\u201cThis makes the Hurons and other people of Canada with such constancy\nendure inexpressible torments; this makes merchants in one country and\nsoldiers in another; this puts men upon school divinity in one country\nand physics and mathematics in another; this cuts out the dresses for\nthe women, and makes the fashions for the men, and makes them endure the\ninconveniences of all.\u201d The great English philosopher manifestly\nentertained no doubt that the latent elements on which all civilisation\ndepends were equally shared by Indian and European. But the Hurons\nperished\u2014all but a little remnant of Christianised half-breeds now\nsettled on the St. Charles river below Quebec\u2014in their very hour of\ncontact with European civilisation.\n\nFather Sagard estimated the Huron tribes at the close of their national\nhistory, when they had been greatly reduced in numbers, as still between\nthirty and forty thousand. But besides these there lay between them and\nthe shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara river the Tiontonones and the\nAttiwendaronks, and to the south of the Great Lake the Eries, all of the\nsame stock, and all sharers in the same fate. Tradition points to the\nkindling of the council-fire of peace among the Attiwendaronks before\nthe organisation of the Iroquois confederacy. Father Joseph de la Roche\nd\u2019Allyon, who passed through their country when seeking to discover the\nsource of the Niagara river, speaks of twenty-eight towns and villages\nunder the rule of its chief Sachem, and of their extensive cultivation\nof maize, beans, and tobacco. They had won, moreover, the strange\ncharacter of being lovers of peace, and were styled by the French the\nNeuters, from the desire they manifested to maintain a friendly\nneutrality alike with the Hurons and the Iroquois. Of the Eries we know\nless. In the French maps of the seventeenth century the very existence\nof the great lake which perpetuates their name was unknown; but the\nFrench fur-traders were aware of a tribe existing to the west of the\nIroquois, whose country abounded with the lynx or wild cat, the fur of\nwhich was specially prized, and they designated it \u201cLa Nation du Chat.\u201d\nTo their artistic skill are ascribed several remains of aboriginal art,\namong which a pictorial inscription on Cunningham\u2019s Island is described\nas by far the most elaborate work of its class hitherto found on the\ncontinent.[68] From the partial glimpses thus recovered of both nations\nwe are tempted to ascribe to them an aptitude for civilisation fully\nequal to that of which the boasted federal league of the Iroquois gave\nevidence. But they perished by the violence of kindred nations before\neither the French or English could establish intercourse with them; and\ntheir fate doubtless reveals to us glimpses of history such as must have\nfound frequent repetition in older centuries throughout the whole North\nAmerican continent.\n\nThe legend of the peace-pipe, Longfellow\u2019s poetic version of the Red\nIndian Edda, founded on traditions of the Iroquois narrated by an\nOnondaga chief, represents Gitche Manito, the Master of Life, descending\non the crag of the red pipestone quarry at the C\u00f4teau des Prairies, and\ncalling all the tribes together:\u2014\n\n    And they stood there on the meadow\n    With their weapons and their war gear,\n    Wildly glaring at each other.\n    In their faces stern defiance,\n    In their hearts the feuds of ages,\n    The hereditary hatred,\n    The ancestral thirst of vengeance.\n\nSo far the picture is true to nature; but no dream of a millennial era\nfor the Red Man, in which all were thenceforth to live together as\nbrothers, can have fashioned itself in the mind of Indian seer. The\nSioux, the Crees, and the Blackfeet, still continued to nurse the same\nfeud of ages, and thirsted for each other\u2019s blood, while European\nemigrants crowd in to take possession of their vast prairies, destined\nto become the granaries of the world. The buffalo, on which they mainly\ndepended for their food, and their t\u00e9epees or tents, have vanished from\ntheir prairies, and will ere long be as extinct as the fossil urus or\nmastodon. The Red Man of the North-West exhibits no change from his\nprecursors of the fifteenth century; and for aught that appears in him\nof a capacity for self-development, the forests and prairies of the\nAmerican continent may have sheltered hunting and warring tribes of\nIndians, just as they have sheltered and pastured its wild herds of\nbuffaloes, for countless centuries since the continent rose from its\nocean bed.\n\nOnly by prolonged hereditary feuds, more insatiable, and therefore more\ndestructive in their results than the ravages of tigers or wolves, is it\npossible to account for such an unprogressive condition of humanity as\nthe arch\u00e6ological disclosures of the northern continent seem to reveal?\nIts numerous rivers and lakes, and its boundless forests and prairies,\nafforded inexhaustible resources for the hunter, and both soil and\nclimate have proved admirably adapted for agriculture. Still more, the\ngreat copper region of Lake Superior provided advantages such as have\nexisted in few other countries of the known world for developing the\nfirst stages of metallurgic art on which civilisation so largely\ndepends. Whether brought with them from Asia, or discovered for\nthemselves, the grand secret of the mastery of the ores by fire was\nalready familiar to Peruvian metallurgists, and not unknown to those of\nMexico. Unalloyed copper, such as that which abounds in the igneous\nrocks of the Keweenaw peninsula on Lake Superior, is extremely difficult\nto cast; and the addition of a small percentage of tin not only produces\nthe useful bronze alloy, but renders the copper more readily fusible.\nThis all-important secret of science the metallurgists of Peru had\ndiscovered for themselves, and turned largely to practical account. The\npictured chronicles of the Mexicans throw an interesting light on the\nvalue they attached to the products of this novel art. It appears from\nsome of their paintings that the tribute due by certain provinces was\npaid in wedges of copper. The forms of these, as well as of chisels and\nother tools of bronze, are simple, and indicate no great ingenuity in\nadapting the moulded metal to the artificer\u2019s or the combatant\u2019s\nrequirements. The methods of hafting the axe-blade appear to have been\nof nearly the same rude description as are in use by modern savages in\nfitting the handle to a hatchet of flint or stone; and the whole\ncharacteristics of their implements suggest the probability that their\nmetallurgy was a recently acquired art, derived from the civilised races\non whom they had intruded as conquerors.\n\nSuch knowledge, partial as it was, must have been derived from the\nsouth. Everywhere to the north of the Mexican Gulf we look in vain for\nanything more than the mere hammered native copper, untouched by fire.\nDr. J. W. Foster does indeed quote Mr. Perkins, who himself possesses\nsixty copper implements, including knives, spear heads, chisels, and\nobjects of anomalous form, as having arrived at the conclusion \u201cthat, by\nreason of certain markings, it was evident that the Mound-Builders\npossessed the art of smelting copper,\u201d[69] but the illustrations\nproduced in proof of it scarcely bear out the opinion. The same idea has\nbeen repeatedly advanced; but the contents of the Mounds amply prove\nthat if such a knowledge had dawned on their builders it was turned to\nno practical account. Mr. Charles Rau, in his _Ancient Aboriginal Trade\nin North America_, says: \u201cAlthough the fire on the hearths or altars now\nenclosed by the sacrificial mounds was sometimes sufficiently strong to\nmelt the deposited copper articles, it does not seem that this\nproceeding induced the ancient inhabitants to avail themselves of fire\nin working copper; they persisted in the tedious practice of hammering.\nYet one copper axe, evidently cast, and resembling those taken from the\nmounds of Ohio, has been ploughed up near Auburn, in Cayuga, in the\nState of New York. This specimen, which bears no trace of use, may date\nfrom the earlier times of European colonisation. It certainly would be\nwrong to place much stress on such an isolated case.\u201d[70] The well-known\nvolume of Messrs. Squier and Davis furnishes illustrations of copper and\nother metallic relics from the mounds of Ohio.[71] Mr. J. T. Short\nengraves a variety of similar relics from Wisconsin, where they appear\nto have been found in unusual abundance.[72] In the Annual Report of the\nHistorical Society of Wisconsin for 1878 the copper implements in their\ncollection are stated to number one hundred and ninety implements,\nclassified as spear or dirk heads, knives, chisels, axes, augurs, gads,\nand drills, in addition to beads, tubes, and other personal ornaments\nmade out of thin sheets of hammered copper. Dr. J. W. Foster has\nfurnished illustrations of the various types from the valuable\ncollection of Mr. Perkins.[73] Colonel Charles C. Jones engraves a\nspecimen of the rarely known copper implements of Georgia;[74] and Dr.\nAbbott shows the prevailing forms of the same class of relics found\nalong the whole northern Atlantic seaboard.[75] All tell the same tale\nof rudest manipulation by a people ignorant of the working of metals\nwith the use of fire.\n\nAnd yet the native copper was ready to hand in a form and in quantity\nunknown elsewhere. No such supplies of the pure metal invited the\nindustry of the first Asiatic or European metallurgists. The\nCassiterides yielded in abundance the ores of copper and tin, but these\nhad to be smelted and worked with all the accumulated results of\ntentative skill before they yielded the copper or more useful bronze. By\nwhom or where this first knowledge was mastered is unknown: the tendency\nis still to look to Asia, perhaps to Ph\u0153nicia, or to the still\nundetermined cradle of the Aryans, wherever that may prove to have been,\nfor the birth of this phase of metallurgic art which constituted so\nimportant a stage in early civilisation. Yet if the ancient American\nmissed it, it was not for want of opportunity. Examples of the\naccidental fusion of copper by the sacrificial fires of the\nMound-Builders repeatedly occur in the mounds of the Ohio valley. But no\ngifted native alchymist was prompt to read the lesson and turn it to\npractical account.\n\nAsia and Europe appear to have passed by a natural transition, step by\nstep, from their rudest stages of lithic art to polished stone, and then\nto implements of metal. Some of the steps were doubtless very slow.\nWorsaae believed that the use of bronze prevailed in Denmark \u201cfive or\nsix hundred years before the birth of Christ.\u201d[76] In Egypt it\nundoubtedly was known at a greatly earlier date. I still incline to my\nearly formed opinion, that gold was the first metal worked. Found in\nnuggets, it could scarcely fail to attract attention. It was easy to\nfashion into shape; and some of the small, highly polished stone hammers\nseem fitter for this than any other work.[77] The abundant gold\nornaments of the New World at the time of the discovery of Mexico and\nPeru accord with this idea. The like attraction of the bright native\ncopper, is proved by its employment among the southern Indians for\npersonal ornaments; and in this way the economic use of the metals may\nhave been first suggested.\n\nFrom the working of gold nuggets, or of virgin copper, with the hammer,\nto the smelting of the ores, was no trifling step; but that knowledge\nonce gained, the threshold of civilisation and true progress had been\nreached. The history of the grand achievement is embodied in the\nearliest myths both of the Old and the New World. Tubal-cain, D\u00e6dalus,\nHeph\u00e6stus, Vulcan, V\u0153lund, Galant, the Luno or the Celtic Fingal, and\nWayland, the Saxon smith-god, are but legendary variations of the first\nworker by whom the gift of metallurgy was communicated to man; and so\ntoo the New World has its Quetzalcoatl, or V\u0153lund of the Aztecs, the\ndivine instructor of their ancestors in the use of the metals. But\nwhatever be the date of this wise instructor, no share of the knowledge\ncommunicated by him to that favoured race appears to have ever\npenetrated northward of the Mexican Gulf.\n\nIt is vain to urge such dubious evidence as the fancied traces of a\nmould-ridge, or the solitary example of a casting of uncertain age, in\nproof of a knowledge of the furnace and the crucible among any North\nAmerican tribe. Everywhere in Europe the soil yields not only its buried\nrelics of gold, copper, and bronze, but also stone and bronze moulds in\nwhich implements and personal ornaments were cast. When the ingenious\nsystematising of Danish arch\u00e6ologists had familiarised the students of\nantiquity with the idea of a succession of Stone, Bronze, and Iron\nperiods in the history of Europe, the question naturally followed,\nwhether metallurgy did not begin, there, as elsewhere, in the easy\nworking of virgin copper. Dr. Latham accordingly remarked, in his\n_Ethnology of the British Islands_, on the supposition that no unalloyed\ncopper relics had been found in Britain: \u201cStone and bone first; then\nbronze, or copper and tin combined; but no copper alone. I cannot get\nover this hiatus; cannot imagine a metallurgic industry beginning with\nthe use of alloys.\u201d It was a mistake, however, to assume that no copper\nrelics had ever been found. At first it had been taken for granted that\nall such implements were of the familiar alloy. But so soon as the\nimportance of the distinction was recognised, examples of pure copper\nwere forthcoming. So early as 1822, Sir David Brewster described a large\naxe of peculiar shape, and formed of copper, which was found in the hard\nblack till-clay at a depth of twenty feet under Ratho Bog, near\nEdinburgh. This is no solitary example. The Scottish Museum of\nAntiquities has other implements of pure copper; and Sir William Wilde\nstates in reference to the collections of the Royal Irish Academy: \u201cupon\ncareful examination, it has been found that thirty of the rudest, and\napparently the very oldest celts, are of red, almost unalloyed copper\u201d;\nas is also the case with some other rudely formed tools in the same\ncollection.\n\nIt was a temporary advantage, doubtless, but a real loss, to the Indian\nminers of Lake Superior that they found the native copper there ready to\nhand, a pure ductile metal, probably regarded by them as only a variety\nof stone which\u2014unlike its rocky matrix,\u2014they could bend, or hammer\ninto shape, without fracture. Its value as such was widely appreciated.\nCopper tools, everywhere retaining the specs, or larger crystals of\nsilver, characteristic of the Lake Superior veins, tell of the diffusion\nof the metal from that single source throughout all the vast regions\nwatered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and eastward by lake and\nriver to the gulf of the St. Lawrence and the mouth of the Hudson.\n\nThere was a time when this traffic must have been systematically carried\non; when the ancient miners of Lake Superior worked its rich copper\nveins with industrious zeal; and when, probably as part of the same\naggressive energy, the valley of the Ohio was filling with a settled\npopulation; its great earthworks were in process of construction, and a\nnative race entered on a course that gave promise of social progress.\nBut, from whatever cause, the work of the old miners was abruptly\nterminated;[78] the race of the Mounds vanished from the scenes of their\ningenious toil; and rudest barbarism resumed its sway over the whole\nnorthern continent. The same Aryan race that, before the dawn of\nhistory, before the Sanskrit-speaking people of India, or the Zends of\nPersia, entered on their southern homes, spoke in its own cradleland the\nmother tongue of Sanskrit, Greek, Celtic, and German, at length broke up\nand went forth on its long wanderings. Whatever peoples it found there;\nthey were replaced by Celts, Romans, Greeks, Slavs, and Teutons, who\nbroke in upon the barbarism of prehistoric Europe; displaced the older\nraces, Allophylian, Neolithic, Iberian, Finnic, or by whatever other\nname we may find it convenient to designate them; but not without a\nconsiderable intermingling of the old blood with that of the intruders.\nThe sparsely settled continent gradually filled up. Forests were\ncleared, swamps drained, rivers confined by artificial banks and lev\u00e9es\nto their channels; and there grew up in their new homes the Celtic,\nClassic, Slavic, and Teutonic tongues, with all the varied culture and\ncivilisation which they represent. Agriculture, the special\ncharacteristic of the whole Aryan race, flourished. They brought with\nthem the cereals; and, with plenty, the favoured race multiplied, till\nat length it has grown straitened within the bounds of the old continent\nwhich it had made its own.\n\nWith the close of the fifteenth century one great cycle, that of\nEurope\u2019s medi\u00e6val era, came to an end; and then we trace the first\nbeginnings of that fresh scattering of the Aryan clan, and its new\nwestern movement across the Ocean. It seems in a very striking manner\nonce more to repeat itself under our own eyes, as we look abroad on the\nmillions crowding from Europe and filling up the western wilderness;\nhewing down the forests, cultivating the waste prairies, and everywhere\ndisplacing the rude aborigines: yet here also not without some\ninterblending of the races; though the two types, Aryan and pre-Aryan,\nmeet under all the repellent influences of high civilisation and the\nlowest barbarism. In the Canadian North-West alone, the young province\nof Manitoba began its political existence with a population of between\n10,000 and 12,000 half-breeds; in part at least, a hardy race of hunters\nand farmers; the representatives of what is as certainly destined to\nconstitute an element in the new phases which the Aryan race already\nbegins to assume, under the diverse conditions of a new continent, as\nthat curious trace of Europe\u2019s pre-Aryan people which attracted the\nobservant attention of Tacitus among the ancient Britons; and which we\nare learning to recognise, with a new significance, as the Melanochroi:\nthe representatives of the old half-breed of Europe\u2019s prehistoric dawn.\n\n-----\n\n[40] Gladstone, _Juventus Mundi_, pp. 474, 479.\n\n[41] _Indian Migrations_, p. 24.\n\n[42] _Types of Mankind_, p. 351.\n\n[43] _Early Man in Britain_, p. 241.\n\n[44] _Ibid._ p. 244.\n\n[45] _Alaska and its Resources_, p. 237.\n\n[46] _Prehistoric Europe_, p. 550.\n\n[47] _U.S. Geological Survey_, 1872, p. 652. _Report of National\nMuseum_, 1887, p. 683, Fig. 11535.\n\n[48] _Report of National Museum_, 1887, p. 678.\n\n[49] _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_, p. 140.\n\n[50] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3d ed. vol. i. p. 180, Fig. 54.\n\n[51] _Report of the Peabody Museum_, vol. ii., p. 38.\n\n[52] _Primitive Industry_, p. 471.\n\n[53] _Ibid._, p. 542.\n\n[54] _Primitive Industry_, p. 547.\n\n[55] _Ibid._, p. 545.\n\n[56] Foster\u2019s _Prehistoric Races_, p. 55.\n\n[57] _The Antiquity and Origin of the Trenton Gravel_, p. 547.\n\n[58] _Primitive Industry_, p. 481.\n\n[59] _Report of Washington National Museum_, 1887-88, pp. 677-702.\n\n[60] _Primitive Industry_, p. 517.\n\n[61] _Indian Migrations as Evidence of Language_ (Horatio Hale), p. 21.\n\n[62] _Indian Migrations_, p. 22.\n\n[63] _Relations des J\u00e9suites_, 1660, p. 7. Quebec ed.\n\n[64] _Arch\u00e6ologia Americana_, vol. ii.\n\n[65] Brinton, _Races and Peoples_, p. 254.\n\n[66] _Bertram\u2019s Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia,\netc._, 1791, p. 367.\n\n[67] _The League of the Iroquois_, p. 2.\n\n[68] Schoolcraft, _History of the Indian Tribes_, vol. ii., p. 78.\n\n[69] _Prehistoric Races of the United States_, p. 259.\n\n[70] _Smithsonian Report_, 1572, p. 353. The important word _not_\nsupplied here, it is obvious from the context is absent by a mere\ntypographical error.\n\n[71] _Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_, vol. i., pp.\n196-207.\n\n[72] _The North Americans of Antiquity_, p. 95.\n\n[73] _Prehistoric Races of the United States_, pp. 251-259.\n\n[74] _Antiquities of the Southern Indians_, p. 225.\n\n[75] _Primitive Industry_, pp. 411-422.\n\n[76] _Prim\u00e6val Antiquities_, p. 135.\n\n[77] _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, 1st ed. 1851, p. 214; 2d ed. vol.\ni.\n\n[78] _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. vol. i., pp. 203-228.\n\n\n\n\n                                   V\n                THE \u00c6STHETIC FACULTY IN ABORIGINAL RACES\n\n\nTHE ingenious arts of the pal\u00e6olithic cave-dwellers of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re\nabundantly prove that it needed no wanderers from the cradlelands of Old\nWorld civilisation to that strange Atlantis lying in the engirdling\nocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to engraft their artistic\ncapacities on the \u201cAchoriens\u201d by whom it was peopled. The innate faculty\nfor art has manifested itself in individuals and in nations, among\nwidely diverse Assyrian, Egyptian, Hellenic, Arabian, and medi\u00e6val\nraces, as in later Frank, Fleming, and Dane, with unaccountable\npartiality. For its absence, or very subordinate manifestation, is seen\nto be compatible with the highest intellectual triumphs in other\ndirections. The arts of Britain\u2019s Allophyli\u00e6 manifest no instinctive aim\nat a reproduction of familiar natural objects, such as is characteristic\nof some races at a very primitive stage. Nor was it till a recent\ngeneration that the stock from which Shakespeare and Newton sprung put\nforth its first efforts at rivalling the great masters of the\nRenaissance, or entering into competition with the skilled painters of\nthe Low Countries. It is otherwise with the nations of the New World.\nThe highest stage of civilisation attained there is a very partial one.\nBut among the various characteristics of the American aborigines which\ninvite attention, the very wide diffusion of an aptitude for imitative\nart is one that merits careful study as typical of American man. It is\nnot, indeed, to be overlooked that if due allowance be made for the\nnarrow range in degrees of civilisation among the races of the New\nWorld, the same diversity of racial characteristics is observable there\nas elsewhere. The tendency, moreover, of civilisation is to efface, or\ngreatly to modify, such distinctions. Civilised nations habitually\nborrow the arts and imitate the social habits of neighbouring races, or\naccept some common standard of intellectual and moral pre-eminence.\nNevertheless, while the capacity for imitative art is neither peculiar\nto the New World, nor characteristic of all its diverse nationalities,\nit appears to be more generally diffused among the races of America than\nelsewhere. It is prevalent among tribes in nearly every condition, from\nthe rude Indian nomad, or the Eskimo, to the semi-civilised Zu\u00f1i, and\nthe skilled metallurgists and architects of Central America and Peru.\n\nThis development of a feeling for art in savage races is at all times\ninteresting as indicative of intellectual capacity and powers of\nobservation, even when manifested, as it frequently is, within a very\nnarrow range. It is by no means a general characteristic either of\nsavage or civilised man. Yet recent arch\u00e6ological discoveries prove it\nto have been one of the earliest forms of intellectual activity among\nthe cave-dwellers of Europe\u2019s pal\u00e6olithic dawn. The most civilised\nnations have differed widely in the manifestations of this \u00e6sthetic\nfaculty. The city of Dante was the Athens of the Middle Ages in art as\nwell as letters; while the land which gave birth to Shakespeare can\nscarcely be said to have had a native school of painting or sculpture\ntill late in the eighteenth century. The like differences are observable\namong barbarous nations. Races are met with, to whom the drawing of a\nfamiliar object suggests no idea of the original; while others, in\nnearly the same stage of savage life, habitually practise the\nrepresentation of natural objects in the decorative details of their\nimplements and articles of dress, and in the carvings which furnish\noccupation for many leisure hours.\n\nA special interest attaches to the disclosures of arch\u00e6ology relative to\nthe prehistoric races of Europe, owing to the evidence thereby furnished\nof striking resemblances in their arts and conditions of life to those\nof uncultured races of our own day. In many respects it seems as though\nthe present condition of some existing races of America only repeats\nthat of Europe\u2019s infancy. But so far as imitative art is concerned, the\nanalogy fails when the more recent contents of the barrows, cairns, and\ngrave mounds of prehistoric Europe are brought into comparison with\nthose of the New World. If, indeed, we leave behind us the age of\ncromlechs, kistvaens, cairns, and barrows, and seek to estimate aright\nthe disclosures of artistic ability pertaining to the far more ancient\nmen of Europe\u2019s Mammoth and Reindeer periods, it is otherwise. But,\nbefore reviewing the wonderfully definite glimpses thereby furnished of\ntribes of rude yet skilful hunters of that post-glacial world, it may be\nof some help, in the comparisons which they suggest, to recall\nimpressions derived from a study of that Stone period in which the\nnatives of the British Islands appear to have approximated, in many\nrespects, to the Red Indian nomad of the American forest.\n\nOne little-heeded point of evidence of this correspondence, to which I\nlong since drew attention, is to be found in the traces of artificial\nmodification of the head-form in ancient British crania; a comparison of\nwhich with skulls recovered from Indian grave mounds helps to throw\nlight on the habits and social life of the British Islands in\nprehistoric times. In illustration of this I may refer to an\nexploration, now of old date. In the early summer of 1851, I learned of\nthe accidental exposure of a stone cist, in trenching a garden at\nJuniper Green, a few miles distant from Edinburgh, and immediately\nproceeded to the spot. There, under a slightly elevated knoll\u2014the\nremains, in all probability, of the ancient barrow,\u2014lay a rude\nsarcophagus of unhewn sandstone, within which was a male skeleton, still\nin good preservation. The body had been laid on its left side, with the\narms folded over the breast, and the knees drawn up so as to touch the\nelbows. A flat water-worn stone formed the pillow, from which the skull\nhad rolled to the bottom of the cist. Above the right shoulder stood a\ngracefully formed clay vase, containing only a little sand and black\ndust, the remains, it may be presumed, of food which it originally\ncontained when deposited there by affectionate hands, in some\nlong-forgotten century. It was recovered uninjured, and is now\ndeposited, along with the skull, in the Arch\u00e6ological Museum of\nEdinburgh.\n\nThe primitive grave, thus discovered within sight of the Scottish\ncapital, has a curious interest as a link connecting the present with a\nremote past. But the special point which throws light on the habits of\nthe ancient race, is a parieto-occipital flattening, such as is of\ncommon occurrence in skulls recovered from American ossuaries and grave\nmounds. This feature is clearly traceable to the use of the cradle-board\nin infancy. The mode of nursing the Indian papoose, by bandaging it on a\ncradle-board, is specially adapted to the vicissitudes of a nomad forest\nlife. The infant is carried safely, slung on the mother\u2019s back, leaving\nher hands free; and in the pauses of her journey, or when engaged in\nfield work, it can be laid aside, or suspended from the branch of a\ntree, without risk of injury. But one result of this custom is that the\nsoft bones of the skull are subjected to a continuous pressure in one\ndirection during the whole term of suckling, which is necessarily\nprotracted, among a nomad people, much longer than is usual in settled\ncommunities; and to this cause is undoubtedly traceable the occipital\nflattening of many skulls recovered from European cists and barrows. Dr.\nL. A. Gosse, after discussing in his _Essai sur les d\u00e9formations\nartificielles du Cr\u00e2ne_ certain artificial modifications of the skull,\nof common occurrence among the aborigines of the New World, thus\nproceeds: \u201cPassant dans l\u2019ancient continent, ne tardons-nous pas \u00e0\nreconna\u00eetre que ce berceau plat et solide y a produit des effets\nanalogues. Les anciens habitants de la Scandinavie et de la Cal\u00e9donie\ndevaient s\u2019en servir, si l\u2019on en juge par la forme de leurs cr\u00e2nes.\u201d[79]\n\nFull-sized representations of the Juniper Green skull, and others of the\nsame type, are given in _Crania Britannica_.[80] Bateman also, in his\n_Ten Years\u2019 Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills_, concurs with\nearlier writers in ascribing to the use of the cradle-board the\nflattened occiput observed in skulls recovered from British barrows. The\nemployment, indeed, of the cradle-board among prehistoric races of\nNorthern Europe, and their nomad life of which it is so characteristic a\nfeature, may now be considered as generally recognised. The implements\nand pottery recovered from graves of the period show their constructors\nto have been, for the most part, devoid of any knowledge of metals; or,\nat best, in the mere rudimentary stage of metallurgic arts. But the\nJuniper Green cist, that of the large Staffordshire barrow of Wotton\nHill, that of Roundway Hill, North Wilts, another of Green Lowe,\nDerbyshire, and others described in the works above referred to, while\nall disclosing evidence of correspondence in habits and social condition\nbetween ancient races of the British Isles and the Indians of the New\nWorld, also furnished characteristic examples of their fictile ware; and\nhere the analogy fails. There are, indeed, abundant specimens of broken\nIndian pottery on many of their deserted village sites, which might be\nmingled with the fragments of a like kind from early European grave\nmounds without attracting special attention. Simple chevron and saltier\nor herring-bone patterns, scratched with a pointed bone on the soft\nclay, are common to both; and many of the more elaborate linear and bead\npatterns of the primitive British potters reappear with slight variation\non the Indian ware. But besides those, few ancient Indian village sites\nfail to yield fragments of pottery, including clay tobacco pipes,\nornamented with more or less rude imitations of the human face and of\nfamiliar animals, such as the beaver, the bear, the lynx, and the deer.\nBefore my first visit to the American continent, while still preoccupied\nwith the arts of the ancient British savage, and the more graceful\ndevices of the metallurgists of Europe\u2019s Bronze period, I noted the\nprevalence of a conventional ornamentation, consisting mainly of\nimprovements on what may be called the accidents of manufacture, or\npossibly of linear decorations borrowed from patterns of the plaiter or\nknitter.[81] No attempt appears to have been made by the old European\ndecorator at such imitations of familiar natural objects as are now\nknown to have been practised among the far more ancient cave-dwellers of\nEurope, the contemporaries of the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, and\nwhich are familiar to us in the primitive arts of the New World. Objects\nrecovered from the mounds of the Ohio and the Mississippi valleys, as\nwell as the diversified products of the native artificers of Mexico and\nPeru, attract special attention by their endless variety of imitative\ndesign; and similar skill and ingenuity are apparent in the pottery, the\nplaited manufactures, the stone and bone carvings, and even in many of\nthe great animal mounds and other earthworks of the North American\ncontinent. An observant recognition of analogies, traceable in the\nrhetorical construction of many American Indian holophrasms, appears to\nbe only another phase of this widely prevalent imitative faculty. At the\nsame time, whether we study the physical form or the intellectual\ncharacteristics of native American races, it becomes more and more\napparent that the New World has been peopled from different centres, and\nstill presents essentially distinct types of race. It had its ferocious\nCaribs, its Mexicans, with their revolting human sacrifices and other\nbloody rites, and its stealthy, treacherous nomads, less courageous but\nnot less cruel. But it has also gentler races, in whom, as in the\nPeruvians, the Zu\u00f1is, and others of the Pueblo Indians, the \u00e6sthetic\nfaculty predominates, and overlays with many a graceful concomitant the\nutilitarian products of their industrial arts.\n\nWhether barbarous or civilised nations are classified in accordance with\ntheir linguistic affinities, both are found to manifest other\nspecialties according with the diverse families of speech. The\ndifferences which separate the Aryan from the Semitic races are not more\nmarked than the intellectual and moral divergencies among barbarous\ntribes. But while this is apparent on the American continent, its\ndiverse races appear to be characterised by a more general aptitude for\nartistic imitation than is observable elsewhere, except among the\nlong-civilised nations of the Old World, whose composite vocabularies\nreveal the sources of many borrowed arts. The Peruvian potter sketched\nand modelled endless quaint devices in clay; the Zu\u00f1ian decorated his\ngracefully fashioned ware with highly effective parti-coloured designs;\nand the old Mound-Builder wrought in intaglio on his domestic and\nsepulchral vessels conventional flower patterns; and in his miniature\nsculptures reproduced the fauna of an area extending from the Ohio to\nthe Gulf of Mexico. Native artificers of widely different American races\nmanifest this imitative faculty. Not only is the Indian pipe sculptor\nfound copying animate and inanimate objects with an observant eye and a\nready hand, but even the linear patterns on pottery and straw\nbasket-work are frequently made to assume combinations obviously\nsuggested by flowers and other familiar objects of nature. The\nperception of such analogies, and even the capacity for appreciating the\nlinear or pictorial representation of objects on a flat surface, varies\ngreatly in different races. Travellers have repeatedly described the\nmanifestation by savage races of an utter incapacity to comprehend\npictured representations. Mr. Oldfield, for example, tells how a large\ncoloured engraving of a native of New Holland was shown to some\nAustralians. \u201cOne declared it to be a ship, another a kangaroo, and so\non, not one of a dozen identifying the portrait as having any connection\nwith himself.\u201d[82] The artistic faculty is unquestionably hereditary.\nThere are artistic families and artistic races. But if so, the pictorial\nskill of the pal\u00e6olithic cave-dwellers of Western Europe was not\ntransmitted to their successors. Guided not only by a comparison of\ntheir tools and weapons with those of the Neolithic period, but also by\ncranial and other physical evidence, we are led to assume the absence of\naffinity between the men of the Perigord caves and the greatly more\nmodern races of Europe\u2019s later Stone period; and their lack of the\nimitative faculty, so characteristic of the elder race, adds\nconfirmation to this opinion.\n\nArtistic sympathies, and a capacity for high achievements in painting\nand sculpture, are neither the direct results of civilisation, nor in\nmany cases the product of culture and training. From the days of Giotto,\nthe shepherd boy, to those of Thorwaldsen, Wilkie, and Turner, art-power\nis not only seen to be a direct and exceptional gift of nature, but it\nis frequently the product of a singularly partial intellectual\ndevelopment. Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo are examples of men of\nrare and comprehensive genius, who sought in art the form in which to\ngive expression to their many-sided powers. But, on the other hand,\ninstances are not rare of artists like Thorwaldsen or Turner, who,\nexcept within the range of their own special art, seemed exceptionally\ndefective in the exercise of ordinary mental powers. The same is true of\nraces as of individuals. Some show an aptitude for art wholly wanting in\nothers, who nevertheless equal or surpass them in more important\nqualities. The \u00e6sthetic faculty may, indeed, be described as curiously\ncapricious in its manifestations. The Papuans of New Guinea and of New\nCaledonia, a race of Negrillos, in some points presenting analogies to\nthe Australian, are nevertheless remarkable for a seemingly instinctive\ningenuity and aptitude for art. Mr. Wallace describes them as\ncontrasting with the Malay race in the habitual decoration of their\ncanoes, houses, and almost every domestic utensil, with elaborate\ncarving. The Fijians, who are allied to this Negrillo race, present in\nmany respects an unfavourable contrast to the true Polynesian. In their\nphysiognomy and whole physical aspect they are inferior to other island\nraces of the Pacific; and are further notable for repulsive habits and a\ngeneral condition of social and moral degradation. But their ferocity\nand the cruel customs in which they so strikingly differ from the Malays\nare vices of a vigorous race. They have frequently been observed to\nindicate energy capable of being directed to useful ends, as has been\nthe case with the Maori cannibals of New Zealand, and was seen of old in\nthe Huns and the Northmen, whose descendants are now among the most\ncivilised races of the world. It is obvious, at any rate, that the\nsavage vices of the Fijians are compatible with considerable skill in\nsuch arts as pertain to their primitive condition. Their musical\ninstruments are superior to those of the Polynesians, and include the\npan-pipe and others unknown in the islands beyond their range. Their\npottery exhibits great variety of form; and some of the vessels combined\nin groups present a curious correspondence to familiar examples of\nPeruvian art. Their fishing-nets and lines are remarkable for neat and\nskilful workmanship, and they carry on agriculture to a considerable\nextent. \u201cIndeed,\u201d remarked the ethnologist of the United States\nExpedition, in summing up the characteristics of the Fijians, \u201cwe soon\nbegan to perceive that the people were in possession of almost every art\nknown to the Polynesians, and of many others besides. The\nhighly-finished workmanship was unexpected, everything being executed\nuntil recently, and even now for the most part, without the use of iron.\nIn the collection of implements and manufactures brought home by the\nExpedition, the observer will distinguish in the Fijian division\nsomething like a school of arts for the other Pacific islands.\u201d\n\nAll this has to be kept in view, in any attempt to gauge the\nintellectual development, or determine the degree of civilisation, of\nthe pal\u00e6olithic draughtsmen and carvers of the Garonne. One of the\nscenes introduced by M. Figuier, in the fanciful illustrations of his\n_L\u2019Homme primitif_, represents a group of artists, such as, except for\ntheir costume, might have been sketched from the students of the \u00c9cole\ndes Beaux Arts. Their mode of work was probably much more akin to the\nintermittent labours of the Indian, whose elaborately sculptured pipe is\nlaid aside, and resumed again\u2014often after prolonged intervals,\u2014before\nit receives the finishing touch. But though the drawings and the\ncarvings of those primitive artists alike manifest remarkable skill and\nobservant imitation, the former are the objects of special interest.\nTheir carvings appear to have been executed, with rare exceptions, for\nthe decoration of favourite implements and weapons, in accordance with a\npractice common to many diverse races and conditions of society. But the\ndrawings have no such motive. They more nearly correspond to the sketch\nor drawing from nature of the modern artist; and furnish evidence of\npeculiar attributes, strikingly distinguishing the race of that remote\nage from most others that have succeeded them.\n\nCertain it is that, so far as present evidence goes, the greatly\nprolonged Neolithic period was characterised by no such artistic feeling\nor imitative skill. Specimens of the ingenious handiwork of the\nartificers of Europe\u2019s later Stone age abound. We have numerous relics\nfrom the kitchen middens of Denmark, the pile villages of Switzerland,\nthe crannoges of Scotland and Ireland, as well as the varied contents of\ncromlechs, cists, cairns, and barrows, diligently explored throughout\nEurope. But no such examples of carvings, or graven representations of\nanimals or other natural objects, have been found. The \u201cclay in the\nhands of the potter\u201d is a familiar symbol of plastic response to the\nwill of the designer. It is, indeed, easier for the practised modeller\nto fashion the clay into any desired form, than to draw it, subject to\nrules of perspective, on a flat surface. Linear devices and the\nrepresentation of objects in intaglio, or in low relief, are also\naccomplished with great facility on the soft clay. Hence the art of\ndiverse races, periods, and stages of progress, finds its aptest\nillustration in fictile ware; and the imitative faculty of widely\ndifferent American races may be studied in their pottery. In Mexico,\napparently, we have to look for the northern school of ceramic art.\nThere, the aggressive races of the North first came in contact with the\ncivilisation of Central America; and the native aptitude for imitative\nrepresentation received a fresh impulse. The Indian modeller learned to\nwork skilfully in clay; and the variety of design, combined with the\nquaint humour of the caricaturist, displayed in many of the Mexican\nterra-cottas, serves to indicate this class of work as specially\nsignificant in relation to the present inquiry. The inventive fancy and\nskill of the Peruvian potter illustrates in ampler variety the progress\nachieved by the races of the southern continent. But this will more\nfitly come under review along with other examples of modern native art.\nFor no analogous traces of contemporary modelling in clay furnish\nmaterial for comparison with the art of the Pal\u00e6olithic era; though the\nskill of its bone and ivory carvers was in no degree inferior to that of\nthe Mexican or Peruvian modeller. But the \u00e6sthetic aptitude of that old\nrace of Europe\u2019s intellectual dawn is in some respects unique. In so far\nas their ingenious arts furnish any evidence of true racial\ncharacteristics, the men of the Neolithic era inherited none of their\n\u00e6sthetic feelings; nor did the imitative faculty manifest itself with\nexceptional power until the advent of the Aryan races brought with it\nthe potentialities of Hellenic inspiration.\n\nThe absence of nearly every trace of imitative art in the prehistoric\nremains of Britain has already been noted. It made a strong impression\non my mind at an early stage of my arch\u00e6ological researches; for this\ncharacteristic of European art extends over a period of greatly\nprolonged duration, marked by the advent and disappearance of races,\ndissimilar alike in physical and mental characteristics. We have the\nlaboriously finished implements of neolithic art, the pottery of at\nleast two distinct races seemingly prior to the Celts, and then the\ngraceful artistic productions of the Bronze period, but still only the\nrarest traces of any effort at imitation. Long before the imitative arts\nof the American continent were known to me otherwise than from\ndescription, I remarked, of the archaic art of the first British\nmetallurgists: \u201cThe ornamentation consists, almost without exception,\nonly of improvements on the accidents of manufacture. The incised\ndecorations of the pottery appear, in many cases, to have been produced\nsimply by passing twisted cords round the soft clay. More complicated\ndesigns, most frequently consisting of chevron, saltire, or herring-bone\npatterns, where they are not merely the results of a combination of such\nlines, have been suggested, as I conceive, by the few and\nhalf-accidental patterns of the industrious female knitter. In no single\ncase is any attempt made at the imitation of a leaf or flower, of\nanimals, or any other simple objects.\u201d[83] At the date of those remarks\nthe art of Europe\u2019s Pal\u00e6olithic era was unknown; but with the arts of\nother primitive races, and especially those of the American continent,\nin view, I then added: \u201cIt is curious, indeed, and noteworthy, to find\nhow entirely every trace of imitative art is absent in British archaic\nrelics; for it is by no means an invariable characteristic of primitive\narts.\u201d Dr. Hoffman, when commenting on aboriginal American art among the\nIndians of California, adds: \u201cI have not met with any attempts at\nobjective drawings or etchings which may be attributed to the Tshuma\nIndians, who were the former occupants of the island;[84] but\nornamentations upon shells and bone beads, soap-stone pipes, shell\npendants, and other ornaments, seem to consist entirely of straight or\nzigzag lines, cross-lines, circles,\u201d etc. The earliest examples of\nnative metallurgy in Britain are to be found in the works of the\nprimitive goldsmith; but the same conventional ornamentation which\noccurs on early pottery, is characteristic of the beautiful personal\nornaments of gold belonging, for the most part, to the first period of\nworking in metals. It is not till a late stage of the European Bronze\nperiod that imitative art reappears, and zoomorphic decorations become\ncommon.\n\nThe discovery in 1868, and subsequent years, of numerous specimens of\nthe artistic ability of the cave-men of pal\u00e6olithic Europe, revealed a\nsingularly interesting phase of primitive history. Remains of the\nso-called \u201cReindeer period\u201d are now familiar to us from many localities;\nfor the range of this animal in pal\u00e6olithic times appears to have\nextended from the Baltic to the Pyrenees. But a special interest was\nconferred on the first disclosures by the locality itself, where the\nV\u00e9z\u00e8re, an affluent of the river Dordogne, winds its way through the\ncretaceous limestone, in which occur numerous caves and rock-shelters,\nrich in remains of primitive art. In this region of South-western\nFrance, where many historical and legendary associations carry the fancy\nback to elder centuries, the Dordogne unites with the Garonne at its\nestuary below Bordeaux. The upper waters of the Dordogne form the\nboundary between Limousin and Auvergne, and the V\u00e9z\u00e8re is one of its\nhighest tributaries in Limousin. There, nearly in the latitude of\nMontreal, but with the genial climate which, throughout the whole\nhistoric period, has characterised Southern France, lie the caves of\nCro-Magnon, La Moustier, Gorge d\u2019Enfer, Laugerie Haute and Basse, and La\nMadelaine: the long-sealed art galleries of prehistoric Gaul. The\nreindeer and the aurochs haunted its forests; the woolly rhinoceros and\nthe mammoth still frequented its glades; and the long-extinct fossil\nhorse was not only an object of the chase, but was possibly already\nsubdued to the companionship and service of man. Such, at least, is the\nidea suggested by a scene graven on the portion of a baton or staff,\nfound by M. Lartet and Mr. Christy in La Madelaine cave, which\nrepresents a man between two horses\u2019 heads, apparently walking past,\nwith a staff or spear over his shoulder. Nor were those man\u2019s sole\ncontemporaries.\n\nThe drawings of the ancient cave-men are of varying degrees of merit,\nshowing the efforts of the unskilled tyro as well as of the practised\nartist. Some of the examples found at Laugerie Basse\u2014as, for instance,\nthe assumed representation of an ibex, with its legs folded as if\nsitting,\u2014are the crude efforts of unpractised draughtsmen, and would\ncompare unfavourably with many examples of graphic art, the work of\nmodern Eskimo and Indian gravers and draughtsmen. But other\nspecimens\u2014such as the mammoth from La Madelaine cave, and the Alpine\nibex and reindeers from Laugerie Basse, in Southern France, and, still\nmore, the remarkably spirited drawing of the reindeer grazing, from the\nKesserloch, near Thayingen, sketched on a piece of reindeer\nhorn,\u2014evince powers of observation, and a freedom of hand in sketching\nfrom nature, such as would be found exceptional among pupils of our best\ntraining schools of art. On this point my friend, Sir Noel Paton, writes\nme: \u201cI entirely concur in your view as to the immense superiority as\nworks of art of the engravings on horn and ivory found in the\nprehistoric caves, over any modern work of the same kind which I have\nseen, executed by the Eskimos or other savage, tribes of our own day. As\ncompared with the latter, the prehistoric productions are like the swift\nand direct studies from nature of Landseer, compared with the laboured\nscrawlings from memory of a rather dull schoolboy.\u201d\n\nI have elsewhere drawn attention to the fact that some of the drawings\nof the Perigord cave-men and their pal\u00e6olithic contemporaries,\nespecially, among the latter, the Kesserloch sketch of a reindeer\ngrazing, are left-hand drawings.[85] So far as this class of evidence is\nof value, the examples from the caves in the valley of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re are\nexceptionally numerous. There, it may be, a family, or possibly a tribe,\ndwelt, among whom left-handedness prevailed to an unusual extent, along\nwith a degree of skill and dexterity, such as is frequently found to\naccompany the instinctive use of the left hand.\n\nIn this, as in other respects, the recovery of evidences of a\nwell-developed \u00e6sthetic faculty among the men of Europe\u2019s Mammoth and\nReindeer period, furnishes materials for many suggestive inferences; for\nwe shall very imperfectly estimate the significance of the primitive\ndrawings so unexpectedly discovered, if we regard them as no more than\nthe pastimes of those ancient cave-men, whose artistic ability they so\nunmistakably reveal. They are rather to be classed with the\npicture-writing of the American aborigines\u2014including its most advanced\nMexican stage abundantly illustrated in Lord Kingsborough\u2019s folios,\u2014as\none of the primitive supplements of language among uncultured races. As\nsuch it is a form of visible speech, and an important step in advance of\nthe stage of gesture-language. The historical value of the pal\u00e6olithic\ndrawings is indisputable. They furnish a record, more trustworthy than\nany written chronicle, of the strange conditions of life in a region\nfamiliar to us throughout the whole historic period for its genial\nclimate and social civilisation. It is in this aspect, as a contemporary\nchronicling of current events, that pal\u00e6olithic art has its chief value.\nIt furnishes a graphic picturing of the habits of life, and of many of\nthe attendant circumstances of that remote period, recorded with such\nvivid truthfulness, that we realise very definitely the character of its\nlong-extinct fauna, and, to some considerable extent, the occupations\nand modes of life of the cave-men by whom they were hunted, and in\nleisure hours were reproduced graven or carved, on bone, horn, or ivory,\nor traced in free outline on slabs of schist or other soft stone.\n\nViewed simply as examples of imitative art among a people still in the\nrudest Stone age, the drawings are significant and instructive. They\nfurnish evidence of observation and artistic capacity, and consequently\nof intellectual powers capable of very different results from anything\nthat could be realised in the absence of all knowledge of metallurgy, or\nof anything beyond the crudest appliances for developing mechanical\nskill. The conditions of climate probably forbade any attempt at\nagriculture. They were hunters, fowlers, fishers, subsisting mainly, if\nnot wholly, by the chase. They not only successfully pursued the wild\nhorse, the reindeer, and other swift-footed herbivora, but assailed the\ncave-bear, the cave-lion, and other formidable carnivora, as well as the\nhuge rhinoceros and the mammoth. They also made excursions to the\nsea-shore, and no doubt left there shell mounds similar to those which\nhave been explored with such interesting results on the Danish coast;\nand which have their New World equivalents on the seaboards of\nMassachusetts, Georgia, and Florida, where at certain seasons the\nIndians resorted to feast on the shell-fish. From their drawings and\ncarvings we not only learn this, but also that they were not unfamiliar\nwith the whale, the seal, and other marine fauna. The presence of the\nwhale and seal in the same latitude as the reindeer need not surprise\nus. The occupation of Europe by pal\u00e6olithic man contemporary with the\n_Elephas primigenius_ and other extinct mammalia, belongs to an era when\nthe relative levels of sea and land, and the relations of the Atlantic\ncoast-line to the ancient continent, differed widely from their present\nconditions. If the genial current of the Gulf Stream then reached the\nshores of Europe, its influence extended over areas very diverse from\nthose now affected by it. But the range of the fauna of that Pal\u00e6olithic\nera was a wide one. Tusks of the mammoth and antlers of the reindeer\noccur in the Scottish boulder-clay; and the discovery of skeletons of\nthe whale far inland in the carse of Stirling, accompanied in more than\none case by implements made of perforated stag\u2019s horn, tells of the\npresence of the Greenland whale on the ancient Scottish sea coast, while\nthe stag haunted its forests, and the Allophylian savage paddled his\ncanoe in estuaries marked for us now by old sea-margins that preceded\nthe last great rise of the land. Skulls and horns of the elk occur in\nthe Scottish peat-bogs, seemingly indistinguishable from those of the\n_Cervus alces_, or North American moose.[86] As to the reindeer, not\nonly are its remains found in Scottish mosses and the underlying marl,\nbut they have been dug up in the ruined brochs, as at Cill-Trolla,\nSutherlandshire, and Keiss in Caithness. The favourite haunts of the\nGreenland whale are in seas encumbered with floating ice; and when they\nwere stranded in the estuary of the Forth by a tide rising on a\nshore-line now nearly thirty feet above the tide-mark of the present\nday, the highlands of Scotland were capped with perpetual snow, and\ngreat changes of level had still to occur. But neither the whale nor the\nEskimo retreated within the Arctic circle because they could only be at\nhome among polar ice and snow. Remains of the whale in Scottish kitchen\nmiddens of greatly more modern date show that it must have haunted the\nScottish shores when the temperature of the surrounding ocean differed\nlittle from that of the present day. There is preserved in the Museum of\nthe Scottish Antiquaries a drinking-cup fashioned from the vertebra of a\nwhale, which was found in a weem, or subterranean dwelling, on the Isle\nof Eday, Orkney, along with implements of stone, horn, bone, bronze, and\niron; and other evidences of the presence of the whale in the Scottish\nseas are of frequent occurrence.\n\nAs to the ivory of the narwhal and the rostungr, or walrus, it was in\nuse by Scoto-Scandinavian carvers after the disappearance of the\nreindeer from Scotland. A curious large sword, probably of the\nfourteenth century, at Hawthornden, near Edinburgh, has the hilt made of\nthe narwhal\u2019s tusk; and the famous Lewis chessmen, found at Uig in the\nIsle of Lewis, as well as examples of chess and tablemen recovered from\ntime to time in other Scottish localities, are all made of the walrus\nivory, the \u201chuel-bone\u201d of Chaucer. But when the whale haunted the shores\nto which the hunters of the Perigord resorted, it is doubtful if Britain\nwas an island. In that age of the mammoth and the reindeer of the\nPyrenees, when art flourished in the valley of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re, and men,\nscarcely less strange than the long-extinct fauna on which they preyed,\nsheltered in their rock-dwellings from the ice and snow, the relative\nlevels of sea and land, and the lines of the Atlantic coast, bore no\nrelation to their present aspect; for the old region of ice and snow was\nwhat is now familiar to us as the vine-clad sunny land of France. All\nthis we learn from the arch\u00e6ological remains of those old times, and\nespecially from the carvings and gravings which, happily for us, were\nthen executed, whether for pastime or as actual records. Like many of\nthe native races of the American continent at the present day, the old\ncave-dwellers employed their leisure time in carving in bone, horn, or\nivory; and like them too, as we believe, they applied their skill in\ngraphic art as a means of recording events and communicating facts to\nothers. The broad palinated antlers of the reindeer, prepared sections\nof mammoth ivory, and slabs of schist, all furnished tablets on which\nthey not only delineated the objects of the chase, but incidents and\nobservations of daily experience. And if so, we have in such drawings\nthe germ of ideographic symbolism, and of hieroglyphic writing. By just\nsuch a process of recording facts in a form readily intelligible to\nothers, the early dwellers in the Nile valley originated the mode of\nobject-drawing and ideographic chronicling, from which hieroglyphic,\ndemotic, and ultimately, phonetic writing were evolved.\n\nIt is not solely by inference that we are led to surmise that the\ningenious draughtsmen of Southern France had a higher aim than mere\npastime in some, at least, of their graphic devices. The relics\nrecovered from the ancient caves include what appear to be tallies and\nnumerical records, unmistakably indicative, not only of a method of\nnumeration, but of the growth of a system of mnemonic symbolism, and\ndistinctive graven characters, not greatly inferior to the primitive\nalphabets of Celtic or Scandinavian lithology. It is curious, indeed, to\nfind in use in Europe\u2019s early Post-Glacial period symbols which, but for\ntheir undoubted execution by the ancient cave-men of Aquitania, might be\nassigned with every probability to some Druid scribe, familiar with the\nogham characters of the Gauls and British Celts. Among the objects\nrecovered from the Dordogne caves, including tallies and inscribed\ntablets of horn and ivory, with their enumeration in simple units, M.\nBroca specially noted a deer\u2019s tyne, marked with a series of notches,\nwhich he assumed to be a hunter\u2019s memoranda of the produce of the chase.\nA more complex record, found in the rock-shelter of Gorge d\u2019Enfer, is\ninscribed on a plate of ivory. Its groups of horizontal and oblique\nlines along the edges, and symmetrical rows of dots on the flat surface,\ncombine to furnish a record graven in characters as well-defined as many\na runic or ogham inscription. If it be no more than the memoranda of a\nsuccessful hunt, with a classification of the different kinds of game\nsecured for distribution among the members of the tribe, it is not\ngreatly inferior to the early system of numeration among the Egyptians.\nBut when such a piece of arithmetic was supplemented by a pictorial\nrecord of the hunt; or by the incident, so acceptable to a bevy of\nhunters over their camp-fire, of the fight of the male deer in the\nrutting season; or the charge of the enraged elephant with elevated\ntrunk, trumpeting wrath and defiance: much had been accomplished that\nadmits of comparison with records of the modern penman.[87]\n\nIt is difficult for the men of a lettered age, with all the facilities\nof the printing-press in fullest use, to realise the condition of\nintellectual activity, or the natural modes of its expression, among an\nunlettered people. The transmission of Homeric or Ossianic poems, of a\nNiebelungen Lied or an Albanic Duan, from generation to generation, by\nthe mere aid of memory, is scarcely conceivable to us now. Yet I recall\nthe account given by Ozahwahguaquzuebe, an Ojibway Indian, who told of\nhis habitually accumulating his tobacco till he saved enough to bribe an\naged chief of the tribe to repeat to him, again and again, in all its\nmarvellous details, the legend of Nanaboozo and the post-diluvial\ncreation, in order that he might be able, in his turn, to recount it in\nfull, as it had come down from elder generations of his people.\n\nThere are some results of the introduction of the printing-press still\nvery partially appreciated. Its direct influence on social and\nintellectual progress receives ample recognition; but not so all\nindirect influences traceable to its operations. In elder centuries,\nbefore Gutenberg and Faust superseded the labours of the scribe, not a\nfew ballad-epics and lyrics were consigned to the wandering minstrels,\nto whose tenacious memories we are so largely indebted. But there were\nother avenues in those old centuries for fancy and passion, not greatly\ndissimilar to those by which the observation and descriptive powers of\nthe post-glacial Troglodytes found vent. It is vain for a Pugin or a\nRuskin to bewail the mechanical character of modern art. It was easier\nfor the medi\u00e6val satirist to find free scope for his humour in a\nsculptured corbel, or on a boss of the beautiful groined ceiling, or to\ncarve his grosser caricature within easy access under the _miserere_ in\nthe choir, than to spend long hours at his lectern in the scriptorium,\ncommitting his fancies with laborious pains to less accessible\nparchments. And so, both satires and sermons were then graven in stone,\nwhich now find utterance in ways more suited to the age in which we\nlive:\u2014\n\n    For nature brings not back the Mastodon,\n    Nor we those times.\n\nTaste and fancy have now a thousand avenues at their command for the\nhumour and satire which mingled, in quaint incongruity with the devout\naspirations inwrought into medi\u00e6val architecture. With the revival of\nlearning, and the introduction of the printing-press, came the\nRenaissance. Europe renounced medi\u00e6val art as \u201cGothic.\u201d Classic, or what\npassed for classic art, ruled for the next three centuries. Architecture\nbecame more and more mechanical; while \u00e6sthetic taste sought elsewhere,\nand more especially in the novel arena of the printing-press, for\navenues where it could sport in unrestrained freedom.\n\nThe ingenious skill of the pal\u00e6olithic artists and tool-makers, who\nwrought in their rock-shelters and limestone caves, in that remote era\nwhen the climate along the northern slope of the Pyrenees resembled that\nof Labrador at the present day, has naturally awakened a lively\ninterest. The rigour of the climate during a greatly prolonged winter\nprevented their obtaining stone or flint for purposes of manufacture.\nThey wrought, accordingly, in bone, in mammoth ivory, and in the horn of\nthe reindeer, fashioning from such materials their lances, fish-spears,\nknives, daggers, and bodkins; turning to account the deer\u2019s tynes for\ntallies; and carving out of the larger bones what are assumed to have\nbeen maces or official batons, elaborately ornamented with symbolic\ndevices designed for other purposes than mere decoration.\n\nThe Eskimo are recognised as presenting the nearest type to the cave-men\nof Europe\u2019s Post-Glacial era. It is even possible that, like the natives\nof Labrador, the latter may have occupied winter snow-huts, and only\nresorted to their cave-shelters during the brief heat of a semi-arctic\nsummer. This, however, is rendered doubtful by the occurrence of\nreindeer horns and bones of young fawns, along with others of such\nvarying age as to indicate the presence of the hunter during nearly\nevery season of the year. Among a people so situated the industrial arts\nare called into constant requisition, alike for clothing and tools; and\nthe experience of the hunter directs him to the products of the chase\nfor the easiest supply of both. The pointed horn of the deer furnished\nthe ready-made dagger, lance head, and harpoon; the incisor tooth of the\nlarger rodents supplied a more delicately edged chisel than primitive\nart could devise; and the very process of fracturing the bones of the\nlarger mammalia, in order to obtain the prized marrow, produced the\nsplinters and pointed fragments which an easy manipulation converted\ninto daggers, bodkins, and needles. The ivory of walrus, narwhal, or\nelephant is readily wrought into many desirable forms, and is less\nliable to fracture than flint or stone; and all those materials are\nabundant in the most rigorous winters, when the latter are sealed up\nunder the frozen soil. Implements of horn or bone may therefore be\nassumed to have preceded all but the rudest flint celts and\nhammer-stones or unwrought missiles; and although, owing to the nearly\nindestructible nature of their material, it is from the latter that our\nideas of primeval tool-making are chiefly derived, enough has been\nrecovered from contemporary cave deposits to confirm the analogy of\ntheir arts to those of the hyperborean workmen of the North American\ncontinent.\n\nThe necessity which, to a large extent, determined the material of the\nancient workers in bone and ivory, was favourable to the development of\nthe imitative faculty. The ingenious ivory and bone carvings of the\nTawatins and other tribes of British Columbia, of the Thlinkets of\nAlaska, and the Eskimo, equally suffice, with the examples of European\npal\u00e6olithic art, to show how favourable such material was to the\ndevelopment of artistic feeling, which must have lain dormant had the\nartificers been limited to flint and stone. The same influence may be\nseen in operation in many stages of art: as in massive but bald Gothic\nstructures, such as St. Machar\u2019s Cathedral on the Dee, where the\nbuilders were limited to granite, while contemporary architecture in\nlocalities where good sandstone or limestone abounds is rich in\nelaborate details; and, where the soft and easily wrought Caen stone is\navailable, runs to excess in the florid exuberance of its carvings.\n\nThe ingenious artist of the Pal\u00e6olithic era not only ornamented the\nhafts of his tools and weapons with representations of familiar objects\nof the chase, but is also accredited with carving, on his mace or baton,\nsymbolic emblems expressing the rank and official duties of the owner.\nThe analogous practice of the Haidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands at\nthe present day shows that there is nothing inconsistent with primitive\nthought in the symbolic, significance assigned to some of the carved\nbatons; and, if so, we have there examples of imitative art employed in\na way which involved the germ of ideographic graving or picture-writing.\nThe mere fact of pictorial imitation implies the interpretation of its\nrepresentations. Eskimo implements are to be seen in various\ncollections, as at Copenhagen and Stockholm, in the British Museum, in\nthose of San Francisco and the Smithsonian Institution at Washington,\nornamented with representations of adventures incident to their habits\nof life. An Arctic collection, presented by Captain Beechy to the\nAshmolean Museum at Oxford, furnishes interesting illustrations of the\nskill of the Eskimo draughtsman. The carvings and linear drawings\nrepresent, for the most part, incidents in the life of the polar hunter;\nand this is so effectively done that, as Captain Beechy says: \u201cBy\ncomparing one with another, a little history was obtained which gave us\na better insight into their habits than could be elicited from any signs\nor intimations.\u201d[88] Mr. W. H. Dall figures in his _Alaska and its\nResources_, analogous examples of Innuit or Western Eskimo art; and in\nan interesting communication by Dr J. W. Hoffman to the Anthropological\nSociety of Washington, on Eskimo pictographs as compared with those of\nother American aborigines, he figures and interprets similar\nexamples.[89] One of these, copied from an ivory bow used in making\nfire, which he examined in the Museum of the Alaska Commercial Company\nof San Francisco, depicts three incidents in the Innuit hunter\u2019s\nexperience. In one, the hunter supplicates the _Shaman_, or native\nmedicine-man, for success in the chase; another group represents the\nresults of the chase; while the third records the incidents of an\nunsuccessful appeal to another shaman. Another graving from the same\nlocality embodies the incidents of success and failure in a prolonged\nhunting expedition. In their interpretation, Dr. Hoffman was assisted by\na Kadiack half-breed who happened to visit San Francisco at the time. A\ndesign of the same class copied from a piece of walrus ivory, carved by\na Kiat\u00e9gamut Indian of Southern Alaska, records a successful feat of the\nshaman in curing two patients. He is represented in the act of\nexorcising the demons, who are seen just cast out from the men restored\nto health by his agency. From the interpretations thus given, it may be\ninferred that such drawings as those described by Captain Beechy\nrepresent in nearly every case actual incidents. The hunter celebrates\nhis return from a successful chase, his experience in the attempt to\npropitiate the supernatural powers on his behalf, or any other notable\nevent, by recording the impressive incidents on the handle of his\nhunting knife or his ivory bow, or even in some cases on a tablet of\nwalrus ivory; just as the enthusiastic sportsman will at times enter in\nhis journal the special occurrences of the fox-hunt, or the more\nadventurous feats of deer-stalking, or commission an artist to\nperpetuate them on canvas. Incidents of exceptional skill or daring are\nno doubt recalled, and listened to with eager interest by the home\ncircle in the Arctic snow-hut; and are confirmed in their most thrilling\ndetails by appeals to such graven records.\n\nThe more durable material employed alike by the ancient cave-dwellers of\nEurope and by the modern Innuit and Eskimo, has secured their\npreservation in a form best calculated to command attention. But similar\ngraphic representations of incidents and ideas are common to various\ntribes of North American Indians. Throughout the wide region of the old\nAlgonkin tribes rock-carvings, such as that of the famous Dighton Bock,\nabound. The same are no less frequent in the South-West from New Mexico\nto California; while similar pictographs are executed by the Ojibways in\nless durable fashion on their grave-posts, or even on strips of\nbirch-bark. In like fashion, the Crees and Blackfeet of the Canadian\nNorth-West adorn their buffalo-skin tents with incidents of war and the\nchase, and blazon on their buffalo robes their personal feats of daring,\nand the discomfiture of their foes. In this way, the aboriginal\ndraughtsman is seen in his pictorial devices to aim at the like result\nwith that achieved by the old minstrel chronicler or the courtly herald.\n\nOf the ornamented handles of implements recovered from the abodes of the\nancient cave-dwellers of Europe, the most notable examples are far in\nadvance of any Eskimo carvings. One of those, from the cave at Laugerie\nBasse, has been repeatedly engraved. It is fashioned from a piece of\nreindeer\u2019s horn. The carver has so modified his design, and availed\nhimself of the natural contour of his material, as to adapt it admirably\nto its purpose as the handle of a poignard. It was apparently intended\nto include both handle and blade; but probably broke in the process of\nmanufacture, and was flung aside unfinished. The design is a spirited\nadaptation to the special requirements. The horns are thrown back on the\nneck, the fore legs doubled up, and the hind legs stretched out, as if\nin the act of leaping. Another finely finished example of a\ndagger-handle, from Montastrue, Peccadeau de l\u2019Isle, figured by\nProfessor de Quatrefages in his _Hommes fossiles_, also represents the\ndeer with its horns thrown back; but from its fractured condition the\nposition of the limbs can only be surmised to have corresponded to the\nexample from Laugerie Basse. With those may be classed such carvings as\nthe pike, so characteristically represented on a tooth of the cave-bear,\nrecovered from a refuse heap in the cave of Durntly in the Western\nPyrenees, and other similar sports of primitive artistic skill.\n\nSuch carvings had no other aim, we may presume, than the decoration of a\nfavourite weapon, or the beguiling of a leisure hour. But they show the\nfruits of skill, and the observation of a practised eye, by the\ningenious workmen whose drawings and etchings merit our careful study.\nConsiderable taste and still more ingenuity are exhibited by many of the\nAmerican aborigines, in their decorative carvings, and the ornamentation\nboth of their weapons and dress. The characteristics of Eskimo art have\nbeen noted. The Thlinkets of Alaska, lying on their western border,\nmanifest a like skill, making ladles and spoons from the horns of the\ndeer, the mountain sheep, and goat, and carving them with elaborate\ningenuity. They also work in walrus ivory, fashioning their bodkins,\ncombs, and personal ornaments with varied ornamentation; decorate their\nknife-handles of bone, their paddles, and other implements; and carve\ngrotesque masks, with much inventive ingenuity in the variety of the\ndesign, though scarcely in a style of high art. But it is interesting to\nnote the different phases of this imitative faculty. Some tribes, such\nas the Algonkins, confine their art mainly to literal reproductions of\nnatural objects; while others, such as the Chimpseyans or Babeens, the\nTawatins, and the Clalam Indians of Vancouver Island, have developed a\nconventional style of art, often exhibiting much ingenious fancy in its\ngrotesque ornamentation. This is specially apparent in the claystone\npipes of the Chimpseyans, in carving which they rival the ingenious\nHaidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands in exuberance of detail. But\nwhile the art has become conventional, where it is not displaced by\nimitations of the novel objects brought under their notice in their\nintercourse with Europeans its combinations are in most cases referable\nto native myths.\n\nIn many of the elaborately carved Chimpseyan pipes, their special\npurpose seems to be lost sight of in the whimsical profusion of\nornament, embracing every native or foreign object that has chanced to\nattract the notice of the sculptor. Nevertheless, it may help us to do\njustice to the true aim of the Indian artist, if we call to remembrance\nhow much of Christian symbolism was embodied in many a medi\u00e6val\nsculpturing of what, to the unsympathetic observer, seem now only\nconventional vines and lilies, or a mere fanciful grouping of dragons\nand snakes, with apples, figs, grapes, and thorns. This has to be kept\nin view while noting in the pipe sculptures human figures in strangest\nvarieties of posture, intertwined with zoomorphic devices, in which the\nbear and the frog have a prominent place; and, as will be seen, a mythic\nsignificance. It is no less suggestive to note, alike in the Chimpseyan\nand in the Tawatin and Haidah carvings, curious analogies to the\nsculptures of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America. This resemblance has\nbeen noticed, independently, by many observers.\n\nMarchand, a French navigator who visited the Queen Charlotte Islands in\n1791, after having recently seen the Mexican sculpture and paintings,\nformed the opinion that the Haidah works of art could be distinctly\ntraced to Aztec origin.[90] He remarks of their paintings and carvings:\n\u201cThe taste for ornament prevails in all the works of their hands; their\ncanoes, their chests, and different little articles of furniture in use\namong them, are covered with figures which might be taken for a species\nof hieroglyphics; fishes and other animals, heads of men, and various\nwhimsical designs, are mingled and confounded in order to compose a\nsubject. It undoubtedly will not be expected that these figures should\nbe perfectly regular and the proportions in them exactly observed, for\nhere every man is a painter and sculptor; yet they are not deficient in\na sort of elegance and perfection.\u201d\n\nThe imitative faculty thus manifested so generally among a people still\nin the condition of savage life, shows itself no less strikingly in the\nmodern claystone carvings of objects of foreign introduction. The\ncollection formed by the United States Exploring Expedition, and largely\naugmented since, includes numerous carvings in which representations of\nlog and frame houses, forts, boats, horses, and fire-arms, are\nintroduced; and where cords, pulleys, anchors, and other details copied\nfrom the shipping which frequent the coasts, furnish evidence of a\npractised eye, and considerable powers of imitation. To the unfamiliar\nobserver, the result presents, in many cases, a very arbitrary and even\nincongruous jumble of miscellaneous details. But, most probably, the\nnative designer had, in every case, a special meaning, and even some\nspecific incident in view.\n\nThe interest awakened by such manifestations of observant accuracy and\nartistic skill among savage tribes is not diminished by the fact that in\nnearly all other respects they are devoid of culture. Notwithstanding\nthe absence in most of them of the very rudiments of civilisation,\nexperience proves that among the tribes to the west of the Rocky\nMountains distinguished by artistic capacity, there is an aptitude for\nindustrious and settled habits, the want of which is so noticeable in\nthe nomad tribes of the prairies. Their linear patterns are often\nsingularly graceful; and they employ colour lavishly, and with some\ndegree of taste, in decorating their masks, boats, and dwellings. This\nis specially noticeable among the Haidahs, in the different dialects of\nwhose language we find not only names for nearly all the primary\ncolours, but also the word _kigunijago_, \u201ca picture.\u201d The symbolical and\nmythological significance of many of their carvings is indisputable;\nwhile the affinities, traceable at times to the ornamentation most\ncharacteristic of the architectural remains in the principal seats of\nnative American civilisation in Central America, confer on them a\npeculiar interest and value.\n\nThe curiously conventional style of ornamentation of the Haidahs of\nQueen Charlotte Islands is lavishly expended on their idols, or\nmanitous, carved in black argillaceous stone, and on their\ncouncil-houses and lodges. In front of each Haidah dwelling stands an\nornamented column, formed of the trunk of a tree, large enough, in many\ncases, to admit of the doorway being cut through it. These columns, or\n\u201ctotem-poles\u201d as they have been called, are, in some cases, sixty or\nseventy feet high, elaborately carved with the symbols or totems of\ntheir owners. The height of the pole indicates the rank of the inmate,\nand any attempt at undue assumption in this respect is jealously\nresented by rival chiefs. The symbols of their four clans\u2014the eagle,\nbeaver, dog-fish, and black duck,\u2014are represented in conventional style\non the carved house-pole, along with their individual or family totems.\nIn some cases boxes are attached to the poles containing the remains of\ntheir dead. Dr. Hoffman, whose previous studies in native symbolism and\nideography specially prepared him for the intelligent observation of\nsuch monuments, has furnished an interpretation of their most familiar\ndevices. \u201cWhen the posts are the property of some individual, the\npersonal totemic sign is carved at the top. Other animate and grotesque\nfigures follow in rapid succession, down to the base, so that unless one\nis familiar with the mythology and folk-lore of the tribe, the subject\nwould be utterly unintelligible. A drawing was made of one post with\nonly seven pronounced carvings, but which related to three distinct\nmyths. The bear, in the act of devouring a hunter, or tearing out his\nheart, is met with on many of the posts, and appears to form an\ninteresting theme for the native artists. The story connected with this\nis as follows:\u2014Toivats, an Indian, had occasion to visit the lodge of\nthe King of the Bears, but found him out. The latter\u2019s wife, however,\nwas at home, and Toivats made love to her. Upon the return of the Bear,\neverything seemed to be in confusion. He charged his wife with\ninfidelity, which she denied. The Bear pretended to be satisfied, but\nhis suspicions caused him to watch his wife very closely, and he soon\nfound that her visits away from the lodge for wood and water occurred\neach day at precisely the same hour. Then the Bear tied a magic thread\nto her dress, and when his wife again left the lodge, he followed the\nmagic thread, and soon came upon his wife, finding her in the arms of\nToivats. The Bear was so enraged at this that he tore out the heart of\nthe destroyer of his happiness.\u201d[91] Dr. Hoffman found this myth, with\nthe corresponding carvings in walrus ivory, among the Thlinkit Indians,\nwho, as he conceives, obtained both the story and the design for their\nivory carvings from the Haidahs. This appears to receive confirmation\nfrom the peculiar style of art common to both.\n\nBut the decorations of the Haidah lodge-poles admit at times of a much\nmore homely interpretation. Mr. James G. Swan, the author of an article\non \u201cThe Haidah Indians,\u201d in Vol. XXI. of the _Smithsonian Contributions\nto Knowledge_, in a communication to the _West Shore_, an Oregon\njournal, thus describes an Indian lodge and house-pole which attracted\nhis notice, owing to its carved figures, in round hat and other European\ncostume, surmounting the two corner-posts of the lodge. He accordingly\nmade a careful drawing of the whole, which, as he says, \u201cis interesting\nas illustrative of the grim humour of an Indian in trying to be avenged\nfor what he considered an act of injustice a number of years ago. Bear\nSkin, a somewhat noted Haidah chief, belonging to Skidegate village,\nQueen Charlotte Islands, was in Victoria, when for some offence he was\nfined and imprisoned by Judge Pemberton, the police magistrate. Bear\nSkin felt very much insulted; and in order to get even with the\nmagistrate he carved the two figures, which are said to be good\nlikenesses of the Judge, who in this dual capacity mounts guard at each\ncorner of the front of the chiefs residence. The gigantic face on the\nfront of the house, and the two bears on the two mortuary columns, seem\nto be grinning with fiendish delight, while the raven on top of one of\nthe columns has cocked his eye so as to have a fair look at the effigies\nbeneath him. Bear Skin is dead, but the images still remain. It has been\nsuggested that they be removed to Victoria, and be placed over the\nentrance to the police barracks, to keep watch and ward like Gog and\nMagog at the gates of old London city.\u201d But, on the other hand, a\nsymbolical meaning appears to be most frequently embodied in the Haidah\ndevices; of which Mr. Swan reproduces various illustrations, accompanied\nwith native interpretations of them. One drawing, for example,\nrepresents a grouping of conventional patterns such as are common on the\nHaidah blankets of goats\u2019 hair, and in which the untutored student can\ndiscern little more than confused scroll-work, with here and there an\nenormous eye, rows of teeth, and a symmetrical repetition of the design\non either side of the central device. Yet, according to Kitelswa, the\nnative Haidah interpreter, \u201cit represents cirrus clouds, or, as sailors\nterm them, \u2018mares\u2019 tails and \u2018mackerel sky,\u2019 the sure precursors of a\nchange of weather. The centre figure is T\u2019kul, the wind spirit. On the\nright and left are his feet, which are indicated by long streaming\nclouds; above are his wings, and on each side are the different winds,\neach designated by an eye, and represented by the patches of cirrus\nclouds. When T\u2019kul determines which wind is to blow, he gives the word\nand the other winds retire. The change in the weather is usually\nfollowed by rain, which is indicated by the tears which stream from the\neyes of T\u2019kul.\u201d The difficulty with which the inexperienced observer has\nto contend, in any attempt to interpret such native conventional art,\nfinds apt illustration in Mr. Swan\u2019s account of an elaborately\nsculptured lodge-pole of which he made a drawing at Kioosta village, on\nGraham Island, one of the Queen Charlotte group. When describing it in\nminute detail, he says: \u201cI could make out all the figures but the\nbutterfly, which I thought at first was an elephant with its trunk\ncoiled up; but on inquiry of old Edinso, the chief who was conveying me\nin his canoe from Massett to Skidegate, he told me it was a butterfly,\nand pointed out one which had just lit near by on a flower.\u201d The same\ncharacteristics have already been referred to in describing the\nclaystone carvings of the Chimpseyans. They also mark the Haidah\nsculptures executed in the soft argillaceous slate which abounds in\ntheir vicinity. But the Haidahs work with no less ability in other\nmaterials; and were familiar of old with the native copper, which is\nbrought from some still unascertained locality, it is believed, in\nAlaska. The collections of the Geological Survey at Ottawa include some\nof their beautifully wrought copper daggers and a massive and finely\nfinished copper neck-collar. They have now learned to work with equal\nskill in iron. Their bracelets, rings, and ear ornaments of gold and\nsilver; their copper shields and richly carved emblematic weapons, bows\nand arrows, iron daggers and war knives; as well as their wooden and\nhorn dishes, spoons, masks, and toys, are eagerly sought after. The\ncarvings on them, when properly explained, are of great interest; for\nevery device has a meaning, and each illustrates a story or a legend,\nreadily understood by the Indian, but by no means willingly interpreted\nto strangers.\n\nA knowledge of the myths of the Haidahs and other coast tribes is\nindispensable to any interpretation of their carvings; and to those,\naccordingly, Dr. Hoffman has directed his attention. \u201cA very common\nobject,\u201d as he says, \u201cfound carved upon various household vessels,\nhandles of wooden spoons, etc., is the head of a human being in the act\nof eating a toad; or, as it frequently occurs, the toad placed a short\ndistance below the mouth. This refers to the evil spirit, supposed to\nlive in the wooded country, who has great power of committing evil by\nmeans of poison, supposed to be extracted from the toad\u201d; but, as Dr.\nHoffman adds, it is a difficult matter to get an Indian to acknowledge\nthe common belief in the mythic being, even when aware that the inquirer\nis in possession of the main facts.\n\nThe interpretations thus furnished by a careful study of the carvings of\nthe Haidahs and other artistic native tribes of British Columbia, and\nthe evidence of a specific meaning and application discoverable in their\nmost conventional designs, have a significant hearing on the study of\nanalogous productions of the cave-men of Europe\u2019s pal\u00e6olithic dawn. The\nmanifestations of an active imitative faculty and some degree of\nartistic skill, among different rude native tribes of this continent,\npresent some striking parallels to the \u00e6sthetic aptitudes of the\nprimeval draughtsmen and carvers of Europe. There are, moreover,\nundoubted resemblances in style and mode of representation of the\nobjects, as depicted on some of the ancient and the modern bone and\nivory carvings and drawings of the two continents; but the latter\nexhibit no evidence of progress. The Innuit and Eskimo designs do,\nindeed, more nearly approximate to those of the primitive draughtsmen\nthan other aboriginal efforts; but their inferiority in all respects is\nequally striking and indisputable.\n\nThe evidence of artistic ability in the native races both of Central and\nSouthern America is abundant; nor is the northern continent lacking in\nits specially artistic race. But the achievements of the ancient Mayas,\nPeruvians, or Mound-Builders, are of very recent date, compared with the\npal\u00e6olithic, or even the neolithic productions of Europe. It need not,\ntherefore, excite our wonder to find American antiquaries welcoming a\ndisclosure, only too strikingly analogous to the famous mammoth drawing\nof the La Madeleine cave. There recently issued from the American press\na tastefully printed volume, in which its author, Mr. H. C. Mercer,\ngives an account of the discovery, near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, of a\n\u201cgorget stone\u201d of soft shale, on which is graven what the author\ndescribes as \u201cunquestionably a picture of a combat between savages and\nthe hairy mammoth. The monster, angry, and with erect tail, approaches\nthe forest, in which through the pine-trunks are seen the wigwams of an\nIndian village.\u201d The sun, moon, and the forked lightning overhead,\ncomplete a design which could scarcely deserve serious notice, so\npalpable is the evidence of the fabrication, were it not for the\nunmistakable sincerity with which the author sets forth the narration,\nand assures us that after the most careful inquiry \u201cnothing has occurred\nto shake his faith in the unimpeachable evidence of an honest\ndiscovery.\u201d[92] The figure of the mammoth has a suspiciously near\nresemblance, in all but one respect, to the La Madeleine graving on\nmammoth ivory. It charges its assailants with lowered trunk and erect\ntail; but instead of presenting, as in the ancient cave-dweller\u2019s\ndrawing, evidence of aptitude in the free use of the pencil or graving\ntool, the scratchings on the Lenape Stone are crude and inartistic, even\nif tried by the rudest standard of Indian art. It may, perhaps, be worth\nnoting that\u2014if the design has not been purposely reversed in order to\nevade comparison with the genuine European example,\u2014it is a left-handed\ndrawing. The forgery of pal\u00e6olithic implements has become a systematic\nbranch of manufacture in Europe; and the \u201cGrave Creek Stone,\u201d the \u201cOhio\nHoly Stone,\u201d and other similar productions of perverted American\ningenuity are familiar to us. It need not, therefore, excite any special\nwonder to find a like activity in the production of fictitious examples\nof pictorial art.\n\nBut North America has its own ancient artistic race, which, though\nclaiming no such antiquity as that of Aquitaine, is, in the primary\nsense of the term, essentially prehistoric. Among the \u00e6sthetic\nproductions of older races of the continent, the carvings and sculptures\nof the ancient Mound-Builders of Ohio not only admit of comparison with\nthose of Europe\u2019s primitive workers in bone and ivory, but even, in one\nrespect, surpass them. For it is curious to observe that the pal\u00e6olithic\nartists, whose carvings and drawings manifest such a capacity for\nappreciating the grace of animal form, and for reproducing with such\ntruthfulness objects and scenes familiar to them in the chase, seem to\nhave invariably failed, or at least shown a surprising lack of skill, in\ntheir attempts to delineate the human face and figure. Professor de\nQuatrefages notes of one such carving: \u201cM. Mass\u00e9nat has brought from\nLaugerie Basse a fragment of reindeer\u2019s horn, on which is graven a male\naurochs fleeing before a man armed with a lance or javelin. The animal\nis magnificent; the man, on the contrary, is detestable, devoid alike of\nproportion and true portraiture.\u201d[93] Some beautiful Mexican terra-cotta\nhuman masks have been preserved; and, amid the endless varieties of\nquaint and whimsical device in Peruvian pottery, singularly graceful\nportrait-vases occur. But, as a rule, even among the civilised Mexicans,\nimitations of the human face and figure seldom passed beyond the\ngrotesque; and although the sculptors of Central America and Yucatan\nmanifested an artistic power which accords with the civilisation of a\nlettered people, yet, in the majority of their statues and reliefs, the\nhuman form and features are subordinated to the symbolism of their\nmythology, or to mere decorative requirements. In the carvings of the\nold Mound-Builders, as in those of the vastly more ancient artists of\npal\u00e6olithic Europe, we have to deal with miniature works of art; but\nboth include productions meriting the designation. The variety and\nexpressiveness of many of the mound sculptures, their careful execution,\nand the evidence of imitative skill which they furnish, all combine to\nrender them objects of interest. But foremost in every trait of value\nare the human heads. In view of the accuracy of many of the miniature\nsculptures of animals, it has been reasonably assumed that they\nperpetuate no less trustworthy representations of the workmen by whom\nthey were carved. Equally well-executed examples of contemporary\nportraiture, recovered from pal\u00e6olithic caves of Europe, would be prized\nabove all other relics of its Mammoth or Reindeer period. Nevertheless,\nstriking as is the character of the art of the Alig\u00e9wi, it differs only\nin degree of merit from that of many modern Indian races; and in some of\nthe Algonkin stone-pipes the human figure is carved with\nwell-proportioned symmetry. In such carvings, moreover, even when\nexpended on the decoration of the pipe,\u2014which was employed among so\nmany native tribes in their most important ceremonial and religious\nobservances,\u2014there is rarely anything to suggest a higher aim of the\nartist than mere decoration. The same may be assumed of the ancient\ncarvers, in such work as they expended on the hafts of the daggers found\nat Montastrue or Laugerie Basse. But when a carefully executed linear\ndrawing occurs on a rough slab of schist, with its fractured edges left\nuntrimmed, as is the case in examples from the caves of Les Eysies and\nMassat, the artist manifestly had some other purpose in view; and this I\nconceive to have been the earliest stage of ideography or\npicture-writing. He was communicating facts in detail by means of his\npencil which his best attempts at verbal description would have failed\nto convey.\n\nLanguage is even now a very inadequate means of communicating to others\nspecific ideas of form; and some of the most fluent lecturers in those\ndepartments of science, such as geology, biology, and anthropology, in\nwhich there is a frequent demand for the appreciation of details in form\nand structure, habitually resort to the chalk and blackboard. Students\nof my own earlier days will recall, as among their most pleasant\nmemories, the facile pencil with which the gifted naturalist, Edward\nForbes, seemed equally eloquent with hand and tongue; and no one who\nenjoyed the lucid demonstrations of Agassiz in the same fields of\nscientific research can think of him otherwise than with chalk in hand.\nTo the uncultured, yet strangely gifted Troglodyte of the primeval dawn,\nlanguage was still more inadequate for his requirements; and hence, as I\nimagine, the facile pencil was in frequent requisition for purposes of\ndemonstration, with ever-growing skill to the practised hand. Professor\nde Quatrefages, who has enjoyed unusually favourable opportunities for\nthe study of those productions, thus directs attention to their artistic\nmerits: \u201cThe art of the draughtsman, or rather of the engraver, almost\nconstantly applied to the representation of animals, was first tried on\nbone or horn. They have attempted it on stone. The burin must have been\nalmost always a mere pointed flint. With this instrument, imperfect\nthough it was, the Troglodytes of the Reindeer age succeeded by degrees\nin producing results altogether remarkable. The first lines are simple\nand more or less vague. At a later stage they become more defined, and\nacquire a singular firmness and precision; the principal lines become\ndeeper; details, such as the fur and mane, are indicated by lighter\nlines, and even the shading is expressed by delicate hatching. But what\nis nearly always apparent is a sense of truthful realisation, and the\nexact copying of characteristics which enable us often to recognise not\nonly the order, but the precise species, which the artist wished to\nrepresent. The bear, engraved on a piece of schist which was found by M.\nGarrigou in the lower cave at Massat, with the characteristic projecting\nforehead, can be no other than the cave-bear, the bones of which were\nrecovered by that observer in the same place. When we compare the\ndrawings and anatomical details of the Siberian mammoth with the\nengraving on ivory discovered by M. Lartet at La Madeleine, it is\nimpossible to avoid recognising the _Elephas primigenius_ which existed\nthroughout the Glacial period, and which has been recovered entire in\nthe frozen soil of Northern Asia. Oxen, wild goats, the stag, the\nantelope, the otter, the beaver, the horse, the aurochs, whales, certain\nspecies of fish, etc., have been found recognisable with the like\ncertainty. The reindeer especially is frequently represented with\nremarkable skill. This may be seen by the engraving found near\nThayingen, in Switzerland.\u201d[94]\n\nM. de Quatrefages is disposed to estimate the artistic merit of the\ncarvings in ivory as even greater than that of the drawings or etchings.\nBut specific form and contour are more easily realisable than their\nindication on a plane surface. To do full justice to the wonderful skill\nof the Troglodyte draughtsman, we must compare the most highly-finished\npaintings on Egyptian temples and tombs with the works of their\nsculptors; or even the perfect realisations of the Greek sculptors\u2019\nchisel, with drawings on the most beautiful Hellenic vases. The mastery\nof perspective, as shown in some of the works of those pal\u00e6olithic\nartists is remarkable when compared, for example, with the Assyrian\nbas-reliefs; not to speak of the infantile efforts of the Chinese on\ntheir otherwise justly prized ceramic ware.\n\nThe potter\u2019s art is at all times an interesting study to the\narch\u00e6ologist. We owe to Etruscan and Hellenic fictile ware our sole\nknowledge of painting, contemporary with the most gifted masters of the\nsculptor\u2019s art. But it is in the form, rather than the decoration, that\nthe chief excellency of the art of the potter consists. It is one of the\nplastic arts. The clay in the hands of the skilled modeller is even more\nfacile than the pencil of the draughtsman; and the distinction between\nthe purely decorative sports of an exuberant fancy, and the purposed\nsymbolism of the carver or painter, is nowhere more strikingly manifest\nthan in the modellings of the ingenious worker in clay. But fictile art\nbelongs, for the most part, to periods greatly more recent than that of\nthe ancient Stone age. Not that the work of the primitive potter\ninvolved such laboriously accumulated skill as lay beyond reach of the\npal\u00e6olithic carver and draughtsman; for clay cylinders from the banks of\nthe Euphrates, and the terra-cottas from the Nile valley, carry us back\nto times that long antedate definite history. But alike among the\nancient cave-dwellers of Aquitaine, and the modern Eskimo, the\nprevailing conditions of an Arctic or semi-Arctic climate rendered clay,\nfuel, and other needful appliances so rarely available, that among the\nlatter, their pots and lamps are fashioned for the most part of the\n_Lapis ollaris_, or potstone. But traces of the pottery of many periods\nand races abound, and furnish interesting materials for comparison. The\naptitude of the potter\u2019s clay for a display of skill, alike in modelling\nand in tracing on the surface imitative designs and ornamental patterns,\nrenders the fictile ware of widely different eras a ready test of\n\u00e6sthetic feeling, as well as a trustworthy guide to the age and race of\nits artificers. To the ancient cave-men, to whose skill such carvings as\nthe reindeer from Laugerie Basse, or Montastrue, are due, modelling in\nclay would have been as easy and natural as to the modern sculptor; and\npottery, if well-burnt, when not exposed to violence, is little less\ndurable than flint or stone. The rarity, or total absence, of pottery\namong the contents of the pal\u00e6olithic caves accords with other\nindications of a rigorous climate. A piece of plain earthenware was,\nindeed, recovered from the Belgian cave of Trou de Frontal; and Sir W.\nDawson, in his _Fossil Men_, calls attention to the discovery, recorded\nby Fournal and Christie, of fragments of pottery in the mud and breccia\nof caverns in the south of France, along with bones of man and animals,\nincluding those of the hy\u00e6na and rhinoceros. Those, however, whatever be\ntheir true epoch, are mere potsherds, valuable in so far as they\nindicate the practice of the potter\u2019s art at such a time, but furnishing\nno illustration of skill in modelling.\n\nThe pottery found in graves of the Neolithic period is mostly so\nimperfectly burned, that, however abundant it may have been, it could\nscarcely leave a trace in the breccia, or river gravel, from which the\nlarger number of relics of pal\u00e6olithic man have been recovered. But the\npottery and terra-cottas which abound on the sites of Indian villages in\nNorth America everywhere exhibit traces of imitative art, in the efforts\nat modelling the human form, and the more or less successful\nreproduction of familiar natural objects. Squier remarks in his\n\u201cAboriginal Monuments of the State of New York,\u201d that \u201cupon the site of\nevery Indian town, as also within all of the ancient enclosures,\nfragments of pottery occur in great abundance. It is rare, however, that\nany entire vessels are recovered. . . . In general there was no attempt\nat ornament; but sometimes the exteriors of the pots and vases were\nelaborately, if not tastefully, ornamented with dots and lines, which\nseem to have been formed in a very rude manner with a pointed stick or\nsharpened bone. Bones which appear to have been adapted for the purpose\nare often found.\u201d[95] Ornamentation of a more artistic kind appears to\nhave been most frequently reserved by the native workers in clay for\ntheir pipes, to which at times a sacred character was attached, and on\nwhich accordingly they lavished their highest skill as modellers and\ncarvers. Some of the smaller articles of burnt clay, however, which\nSquier denominates terra-cottas, were probably fragments of domestic\npottery similar to those hereafter described among the relics of the\nancient Indian town of Hochelaga. One example of an ingeniously modelled\npipe, found within an enclosure in Jefferson County, New York, is\nspecially selected as a good illustration of Indian art. It is of fine\nred clay, smoothly moulded, with two serpents coiling round the bowl.\n\u201cBushels of fragments of pipes,\u201d he adds, \u201chave been found within the\nsame enclosure.\u201d A carved stone pipe, from a grave in Cayuga County, is\ndescribed as fashioned in the form of a bird with eyes made of silver\ninserted in the head, and Mr. Squier notes of another specimen: \u201cThe\nmost beautiful terra-cotta which I found in the State, and which in\npoint of accuracy and delicacy of finish is unsurpassed by any similar\narticle which I have seen of aboriginal origin, is the head of a fox.\nThe engraving fails to convey the spirit of the original, which is\ncomposed of fine clay slightly burned. It seems to have been once\nattached to a body, or perhaps to a vessel of some kind. It closely\nresembles some of the terra-cottas from the mounds of the west and\nsouth-west. It was found upon the site of an ancient enclosure in\nJefferson County, in the town of Ellisburg.\u201d Again, in describing some\nsimilar relics from the site of an old Seneca village in Munroe County,\nhe adds: \u201cThe spot is remarkable for the number and variety of its\nancient relics. Vast quantities of these have been removed from time to\ntime. Some of the miniature representations of animals found here are\nremarkable for their accuracy.\u201d[96]\n\nThe descriptions thus furnished of the traces of aboriginal art in the\nState of New York closely correspond to the remains recovered on the\nsites of ancient Indian villages in Canada. A finely modelled clay-pipe,\nwith a serpent twined round it, and holding a human head in its jaws,\nnow in my possession, was dug up, along with numerous other clay-pipes,\nbone pins, and other relics, in Norfolk County, on the north shore of\nLake Erie. I also possess casts of some ingeniously modelled clay-pipes\nfound a few years since in an ossuary at Lake Medad, near Watertown,\nabout ten miles west from Hamilton, Ontario. This no doubt marks the\nsite of an ancient town of the Attiwendaronks, or Neuter Nation, who\nwere finally conquered and driven out by the Iroquois in 1635, when the\nlittle remnant that survived was adopted into the Seneca nation. Mr. B.\nE. Charlton, who explored the Lake Medad ossuaries, after describing the\nhuman remains, along with large tropical shells, shell-beads and other\nrelics, adds: \u201cWith these were found antique pipes of stone and clay,\nmany of them bearing extraordinary devices, figures of animals, and of\nhuman heads wearing the conical cap noticed on similar relics in Mexico\nand Peru.\u201d[97] Similar discoveries rewarded the researches of Dr. Tach\u00e9\nin the Huron ossuaries on the Georgian Bay, examples of which are now in\nthe museum of Laval University.\n\nOn the site of the famous Indian town of Hochelaga, the precursor of the\ncity of Montreal, detached fragments, in well-burnt clay, including\nmodellings of the human head and neck, had been repeatedly found, before\nthe recovery of larger portions of the Hochelaga pottery showed that\nprojections modelled in this form within the mouths of their earthern\npots or kettles were designed to admit of their suspension over the\nfire. Any projection within the mouth of the pot would have answered the\npurpose of protecting the cord or withe from the risk of burning; so\nthat the moulding of it into the human form furnishes an illustration of\nthe play of the imitative faculty under circumstances little calculated\nto call it forth.\n\nThe decoration of domestic pottery by the American Indian workers in\nclay is greatly developed among the more southern tribes. The\nornamentation of a few prominent points, moulded more or less rudely\ninto human or animal heads, gives place with them to the modelling of\nthe vessel itself into animal forms, or to its decoration, chiefly with\nhuman or animal figures. Among the examples of native art in the\nNational Museum at Washington are two large vases, remarkable for their\nelaborate workmanship, which were brought from Mexico, by General Alfred\nGibbs. They are figured, along with other specimens of Mexican pottery\nand terra-cottas, in Mr. Charles Rau\u2019s account of the Arch\u00e6ological\nCollection of the United States National Museum. They are there spoken\nof as \u201ctwo large vases of exquisite workmanship,\u201d and one of them is not\nonly described as an admirable specimen of Mexican pottery, but it is\nadded: \u201cAs far as the general outline is concerned, it might readily be\ntaken for a vessel of Etruscan or Greek origin. The peculiar\nornamentation, however, stamps it at once as a Mexican product of\nart:\u201d[98] and, it may be added, in doing so, places it in very marked\ncontrast to any example of Etruscan or Greek workmanship. Its modelling,\nboth in general form and in all its curious zoomorphic details, is\nessentially barbarous, yet manifesting ingenious skill in the\nworkmanship, and exuberant fancy in design. The influence of Mexican art\nextended northward; and its characteristics may be traced in much of the\nnative pottery of the Southern States. But throughout Mexico, Central\nAmerica, and the Isthmus, the modeller in clay appears to have revelled\nin feats of skill. Clay masks and caricatures, and heads of men and\nanimals, in endless variety of dress and fashioning, abound. Utility is\nin many cases rendered altogether subsidiary to the sports of fancy.\nMusical instruments are made in the form of animals; and vases and\nearthenware vessels of every kind are modelled in imitation of\nvegetables, fruit, and shells, or decorated with familiar natural\nobjects. This is still more apparent in Peruvian pottery, where an\nunrestrained exuberance of fancy sports with the pliant clay. Animal and\nvegetable forms are combined. Men and women are represented in their\ndaily avocations, as porters, water-carriers, etc. Portrait-vases\nrepresent the human head, characterised at times by grace and beauty;\nbut more frequently grotesquely caricatured. The human head surmounts\nthe lithe body of the monkey, sporting in ape-like antics; melons and\ngourds have animal heads for spouts; while the duck, parrot, toucan,\npelican, turkey, crane, land-turtle, lynx, otter, deer, llama, cayman,\nshark, toad, etc., are ingeniously reproduced, singly or in groups, as\nmodels for bottles, jars, or pitchers. The double or triple goblets, and\ntwo-necked bottles or jugs, acquire a fresh interest from resemblances\ntraceable between some of them and others belonging to distant\nlocalities and remote ages. The Fijians, on the extreme western verge of\nthe Polynesian archipelago, have already been referred to for their\nskill in the finished workmanship of their implements, and of their\npottery, some of which suggest curious analogies to Peruvian types. But\nit is more interesting to note the apparent reproduction of Egyptian,\nEtruscan, and other antique forms in Peruvian fictile ware; and to\nrecognise on the latter the Vitruvian scroll, the Grecian fret and other\nancient classic and Assyrian patterns\u2014not as evidence of common origin,\nbut as originating independently from the ornamentation naturally\nproduced in the work of the straw-plaiter and weaver. Still more curious\nare their analogies to ancient Asiatic art, as disclosed in a comparison\nwith many of the objects recovered by Dr. Schliemann on Homeric sites.\nAmong the relics which rewarded his exploration of the site of the\nclassic Ilios, are examples of double-necked jugs, terra-cotta groups of\ngoblets united as single vessels, along with others terminating with\nmouthpieces in the forms of human or animal heads; or modelled with such\nquaint ingenuity to represent the hippopotamus, horse, pig, hedgehog,\nmole, and other animals, that, were it not for the strange fauna\nselected for imitation, they would seem little out of place in any\ncollection of Peruvian pottery.\n\nThe same exuberant sportiveness of the imitative faculty, so\ncharacteristic of the races of the New World, reappears in productions\nof the native metallurgists of Mexico and Central America. Casting,\nengraving, chasing, and carving in metal, were all practised by the\nMexicans with a lavish expenditure of misspent labour. Ingenious toys,\nbirds and beasts with moveable wings and limbs, fish with alternate\nscales of gold and silver, and personal ornaments in many fanciful\nforms, were wrought by the Mexican goldsmiths with such skill that the\nSpaniards acknowledged the superiority of the native workmanship over\nany product of European art. The ancient graves of the Isthmus of Panama\nhave yielded immense numbers of gold relics of the same class, though\ninferior to the finest examples described above. They include beasts,\nbirds, and fishes, frogs and other natural objects, wrought in gold with\nmuch skill and ingenuity. The frog is made with sockets for the eyes, an\noval slit in front, and within each a detached ball of gold, executed\napparently in a single casting. Balls of clay are also frequently found\nenclosed in detached chambers in the pottery of the Isthmus. Human\nfigures wrought in gold, and monstrous or grotesque hybrids, with the\nhead of the cayman, eagle, vulture, and other animals, attached to the\nhuman form, are also of frequent occurrence; though in this class of\nworks the modelling of the human form is generally inferior to that of\nother animate designs. All of those curious relics are found in graves,\nwhich, judging from the condition of the human remains, are of great\nantiquity; if, indeed, they do not point to the central cradle and\ncommon source of Aztec and Peruvian art.\n\nIt is thus apparent that the imitative faculty, which manifests itself\nin very different degrees among diverse races, was widely diffused\nthroughout the native tribes of the American continent. But, while a\ncertain aptitude for art is seen to be prevalent among some of the\nrudest tribes, there were, no doubt, among all of them exceptional\nexamples of artistic ability. There were the Jossakeeds and the Wabenos,\nskilled in picturing on bark and deer-skin; and the official annalists\nor \u201cWampum-keepers,\u201d who perpetuated the national traditions. Among the\narrow-makers were some famed for their dexterity in fashioning the\nhornstone or jasper into arrow heads; and, while the art of the potter\nproved no less easy to female hands than that of the baker, there were,\ndoubtless, among them some few rarely-gifted modellers, whose skill in\nfashioning clay into favourite forms of imitative art won them a name\namong the ceramic artists of their tribe. Pabahmesad, the old Chippewa,\nof the Great Manitoulin Island, in Lake Huron, famed for his skill in\npipe carving, has been referred to in illustrating the trade and\nmanufacture of the Stone age.\n\nThe little remnant of the once-powerful Huron race now settled on the\nriver St. Charles, near Quebec, expend their ingenious art on the\nmanufacture of bark canoes, snow-shoes, la-crosse clubs, basket-work,\nand moccasins. In this they show much skill and dexterity; but among\ntheir most adroit workers in recent years was Zacharee Thelariolin, who\nclaimed to be the last full-blood Indian belonging to the band. He\nmanifested considerable ability as an artist, had an apt faculty for\nsketching from nature, and painted successfully in oil. A portrait of\nhimself, in full Indian costume, now in the possession of Mr. Clint of\nQuebec, is a relic of much interest as the work of an untaught native\nIndian, in whom the hereditary imitative faculty thus manifested itself\nunder circumstances little calculated to favour its development. He was\nsixty-six years of age when he executed this portrait. Had it been his\nfortune to attract the attention of some appreciative patron in early\nyears he might have made a name for himself and his people.\n\nAnother curious and exceptional example of native artistic ability may\nbe noted here. The studio of Edmonia Lewis, the sculptor, has long been\nknown to tourists visiting Rome. Her history is a curious one. Her\nfather was a Negro, and her mother a Chippewa Indian. She was born at\nGreenbush, on the Hudson river, and reared among the Indians till the\nage of fourteen, both of her parents having died in her childhood. Her\nIndian name was _Suhkuhegarequa_, or Wildfire; but she changed it to\nthat by which she is now known on being admitted to the Moravian school\nat Oberlin, Ohio. After three years schooling she went to Boston, where,\nit is said, the sight of the fine statue of Franklin awoke in her the\nambition to be a sculptor. She sought out William Lloyd Garrison, and in\nsimple directness told him she wanted to do something like the statue of\nthe printer-statesman. The great abolitionist befriended her. She\nreceived needful training in a local studio, started an _atelier_ of her\nown, and when I saw her in Boston, in 1864, she was modelling a\nlife-size statue emblematic of the emancipation of the race to which\nshe, in part, belonged. Africa was impersonated, raising herself from a\nprostrate attitude, and, with her hand shading her eyes, was looking at\nthe dawn. Soon after the sculptor went to Rome, and she has there\nexecuted works of considerable merit. Her most successful productions\nmay be assumed to reflect the artistic aptitudes of her mother\u2019s race.\nHer two best works in marble are \u201cHiawatha\u2019s Wooing\u201d and \u201cHiawatha\u2019s\nWedding.\u201d A Boston critic, in reviewing her works, says: \u201cShe has always\nhad remarkable power of manipulation, beginning with beads and wampum,\nand rising to clay. She has fine artistic feeling and talent, a sort of\ninstinct for form and beauty demanding outward expression.\u201d\n\nThe wide diffusion of this imitative faculty and feeling for form was no\ndoubt stimulated by its employment for representative and symbolic\npurposes. The relation of imitative drawing to written language is\nequally manifest in the graven records of the Nile valley and the\nanalogous inscriptions of Yucatan or Peru. Quipus, wampum, and all other\nmnemonic systems, dependent on the transmission of images and ideas from\none generation to another, literally, by word of mouth, have within\nthemselves no such germ of higher development as the picture-writing or\nsculpturing of the early Egyptians, from which all the alphabets of\nEurope have been evolved. The phonetic signs, inherited by us directly\nfrom the Romans, seem so simple, and yet are of such priceless value in\ntheir application, that it seems natural to think of the letters of\nCadmus as a gift not less wonderful than speech; since, by their\ninstrumentality, the wise of all ages speak to us still. Plutarch tells,\nin his _De Iside et Osiride_, that when Thoth, the god of letters, first\nappeared on the earth, the inhabitants of Egypt had no language, but\nonly uttered the cries of animals. They had, at least, no language with\nwhich to speak to other generations; nor any common speech to supersede\nthe confusion of tongues which characterised their great river valley,\nbordering on Asia, and forming the highway from Ethiopia to the\nMediterranean Sea. The light thrown for us on the climate, the fauna,\nthe people, and the whole social life of Europe\u2019s Pal\u00e6olithic era, by a\nfew graphic delineations of its primitive artists, suffices to show how\nthe northern Thoth may have manifested his advent among them.\n\nThe condition of the Indian tribes in the North-West, in British\nColumbia, and in the territories of the United States, abundantly\nillustrates the effect of a multiplicity of languages among nomad\nsavages. The Blackfeet are in reality a political and not an ethnical\nconfederation, with at least three distinct languages, and numerous\ndialects spoken among their dispersed tribes. The same condition is\nfound among the Kiawakaskaia Indians, beyond the Rocky Mountains. In the\nconfluence of the nomad hunters to common centres of trade, speech\naccordingly fails them for all purposes of intercommunication; and\ntravellers and fur-traders have long been familiar with the growth of a\ncommon language at more than one of the chief meeting-places of diverse\ntribes and races on the Pacific coast. The Clatsop, in so far as it is\nnative, is a dialect of the Cowlitz language; but, as now in use, it is\none of the jargons or \u201ctrade languages\u201d of the Pacific. But Fort\nVancouver, long one of the largest trading-posts of the Hudson Bay\nCompany, has been the special Babel where, out of the strangest\nconfusion of tongues, a new language has been evolved.\n\nThe organisation of part of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains\ninto the province of British Columbia is rapidly modifying the character\nof its native population. But in recent years there were frequently to\nbe found at Fort Vancouver upwards of two hundred _voyageurs_ with their\nIndian wives and families, in addition to the factors and clerks.\nThither also resorted for trading purposes, Chinook, Nootka, Nisqually,\nWalla-walla, Klikatat, Kalapurgas, Klackamuss, Cowlitz, and other\nIndians. A discordant Babel of languages accordingly prevailed; and\nhence the growth of a _patois_ by which all could hold intercourse\ntogether. The principal native tribe of the locality is the Chinook, a\nbranch of the Flathead Indians on the Columbia river. They speak a\nlanguage rivalling that of the Hottentots in its seemingly inarticulate\ncharacter. Some of its sounds, according to Dr. Charles Pickering, could\nscarcely be represented by any combination of known letters; and Paul\nKane, who travelled as an artist among them, described it to me as\nconsisting of harsh spluttering sounds proceeding from the throat,\napparently unguided either by the tongue or lips. This language\naccordingly repelled every attempt at its mastery by others. The Cree is\nthe native language most familiar to the traders, many of their wives\nbeing Cree women. Both French and English are spoken among themselves;\nwhile, in addition to the tribes already named, natives of the Sandwich\nIslands, Chinese, and other foreigners, add to the strange character and\nspeech of this miscellaneous community. Out of all those elements the\n\u201cChinook jargon\u201d or trade-language of the locality has fashioned itself.\n\nVocabularies of the Oregon or Chinook jargon have been repeatedly\npublished since 1838, when the Rev. Samuel Parker made the first attempt\nto reduce it to writing. But it is necessarily in an unstable condition,\nwith local variations and a changing vocabulary. The latest _Dictionary\nof the Chinook Jargon, or Trade Language of Oregon_, is that of Mr.\nGeorge Gibbs, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1863, and\nincludes nearly five hundred words. When studied in all its bearings, it\nis a singularly interesting example of the effort at the development of\na means of intercommunication among such a strange gathering of\nheterogeneous races. In an analysis of the various sources of its\nvocabulary, Mr. Gibbs assigns about two-fifths of the words to the\nChinook and Clatsop languages. But in this he includes one of the most\ncharacteristic elements of the jargon. The representatives of so many\nwidely dissimilar peoples, in their efforts at mutual communication,\nnaturally resorted to diverse forms of imitation; foremost among which\nwas onomatop\u0153ia. There are such mimetic words as _he-he_, \u201claughter\u201d;\n_hoh-hoh_, \u201cto cough\u201d; _tish-tish_, \u201cto drive\u201d; _lip-lip_, \u201cto boil\u201d;\n_poh_, \u201cto blow out\u201d; _tik-tik_, \u201ca watch\u201d; _tin-lin_ or _ting-ling_, \u201ca\nbell\u201d; _tum-tum_, \u201cthe heart,\u201d from its pulsation; and hence a number of\nmodifications in which the heart is used as equivalent to mind or will,\netc. Again, varying intonations are resorted to in order to express\ndifferent shades of meaning, as _sey-yaw_, \u201cfar off,\u201d in which the first\nsyllable is lengthened out according to the idea of greater or less\ndistance indicated. Many of their words, as in all interjectional\nutterances, depend for their specific meaning on the intonations of the\nspeaker. Such utterances play so small a part in our own speech, that we\nare apt to overlook the force of the interrogative, affirmative, and\nnegative tones, and even the change of meaning that is often produced by\nthe transfer of emphasis from one to another word.[99] But with such an\nimperfect means of intercommunication as the trade jargon, there is a\nconstant motive not only to help out the meaning by expressive\nintonation, but also by signs or gesture-language. \u201cA horse\u201d for\nexample, is _kuatan_; but \u201criding\u201d or \u201con horseback\u201d is expressed by\naccompanying the word with the gesture of two fingers placed astride\nover the other hand. _Tenas_ is \u201clittle\u201d or \u201ca child,\u201d\u2014in the latter\ncase, accompanied by the gesture suggestive of its size,\u2014or it may mean\n\u201can infant,\u201d by the first syllable being prolonged to indicate that it\nis very small. In addition to all this, words are borrowed from all\nsources; and the miscellaneous vocabulary is completed from English,\nFrench, Cree, Ojibway, Nootka, Chihalis, Nisqually, Kalapuy, and other\ntongues.\n\nThe late Paul Kane is my authority for some of the details of intonation\nand gesture-language. He brought back with him a valuable collection of\nstudies of the different races in British North America; and, by means\nof the jargon, he learned in a short time to converse without difficulty\nwith the chiefs of most of the tribes around Fort Vancouver. But as an\nartist he was in constant use of his pencil; and, as he told me, he\nfrequently appealed to it, sketching himself, or at times putting his\npencil and note-book into their hands, with considerable success in thus\nsupplementing less definite signs. The gesture-language furnishes\nCheyenne, Dakota, Apache, and other signs for \u201cpaint, colour, draw,\u201d and\n\u201cwrite\u201d; the act of writing or drawing being expressed by holding up the\npalm of one hand and moving the forefinger of the other over it, as if\ndrawing. The jargon has also its word _pent_, \u201cpaint,\u201d transformed to a\nverb by prefixing the word _mamook_, \u201cto do, to make\u201d; and its _tzum_,\n\u201cpainting,\u201d or \u201cmixed colours\u201d; _mamooktzum_, \u201cto paint.\u201d In the\ngesture-language of the Dakotas and Apaches the equivalent sign is\nprimarily indicative of daubing the face with colour; but the tribes of\nthe Pacific coast paint their masks, boats, and houses in diverse\ncoloured devices, with some degree of taste. There is, therefore, reason\nto look for terms expressive of the art in any language in use among\nthem; though the habitual employment of signs may in some cases check\nthe evolution of phonetic equivalents. But among many tribes\ngesture-language has been systematised into universally recognised\npictographs, and so developed into a native system of hieroglyphics.\n\nAmong the Algonkin, Lenape, Iroquois, and other northern tribes, and in\nthe region comprising New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and other\nsouth-western territory, rock-carvings and pictographs abound. Wherever\nlarge surfaces of rock, or slabs of stone, offer a favourable\nopportunity for such records, they are found, at times executed with\ngreat elaboration of detail. But less durable records are in use,\ndependent on the materials most available to the scribe. The Algonkins\nand Iroquois ordinarily resort to birch-bark; the Crees, Blackfeet, and\nother prairie Indians, substitute the dressed skins of the buffalo;\nwhile, as already noted, the tribes on the Pacific coast, as well as the\nInnuit and Eskimo, employ deerhorn and ivory. In the South-West, in the\nSierra Nevada and Southern California, the sculptured pictograph, after\nbeing incised on the surface of a rock, or the wall of a cave, is\nfrequently finished by colouring in much the same way as was the custom\nwith the ancient Egyptian chroniclers.\n\nAmong a series of reports to the Topographical Bureau, issued from the\nWar Department at Washington, in 1850, is the journal of a military\nreconnaissance from Santa F\u00e9, New Mexico, to the Navajo Country, by\nLieutenant James K. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers. His\nnarrative is accompanied with a map and illustrations of a remarkable\nseries of inscriptions, engraved on the smooth surface of a rock called\nthe Moro. They are of two classes, the native pictographs, and also\nnumerous Spanish inscriptions and devices; one of which records the\nhasty visit of an old Spanish explorer to the Moro Rock in 1606. The\nroute of Lieutenant Simpson lay up the valley of the Rio de Zu\u00f1i, where\nhe met an old trader among the Navajos, who was waiting to offer his\nservices as guide to a rock, upon the face of which were, according to\nhis repeated assertions, \u201chalf an acre of inscriptions.\u201d After\ntravelling about eight miles, through a country diversified by cliffs of\nbasalt and red and white sandstone, in every variety of bold and\nfantastic form, they came in sight of a quadrangular mass of white\nsandstone rock, from 200 feet to 250 feet in height. This was the Moro,\nor Inscription Rock, on ascending a low mound at the base of which, the\njournalist states, \u201csure enough here were inscriptions, and some of them\nvery beautiful; and although, with those we afterwards examined on the\nsouth face of the rock, there could not be said to be half an acre of\nthem, yet the hyperbole was not near so extravagant as I was prepared to\nfind it.\u201d The inscriptions, some in Spanish, and others in, Latin,\napparently include examples nearly coeval with the conquest of this\nregion, by Juan de Onate, in 1595; and from their historical interest\nthey naturally received greater attention from the Topographical Corps\nthan the Indian hieroglyphics. But the same locality was visited at a\nlater date by surveyors appointed to ascertain the most practicable\nroute for a railroad to the Pacific coast; and in a Report of\nexplorations and surveys, published by the Senate of the United States\nin 1856, Lieutenant Whipple furnishes an interesting series of Indian\nhieroglyphics or pictographs seen on his route. \u201cThe first of the Indian\nhieroglyphics,\u201d he remarks, \u201cwere at Rocky Dell Creek, between the edge\nof the Llano Estacado and the Canadian. The stream flows through a\ngorge, upon one side of which a shelving sandstone rock forms a sort of\ncave. The roof is covered with paintings, some evidently ancient; and\nbeneath are innumerable carvings of footprints, animals, and symmetrical\nlines.\u201d[100] Examples of these are given; but of one series, the\nsketches of which had been lost, Lieutenant Whipple remarks: \u201cThis\nseries, more than the others, seems to represent a chain of historical\nevents, being embraced by serpentine lines. First is a rude sketch,\nresembling a ship with sails; then comes a horse with gay trappings, a\nman with a long speaking-trumpet being mounted upon him, while a little\nbare-legged Indian stands in wonder behind. Below this group are several\nsingular-looking figures: men with the horns of an ox, with arms, hands,\nand fingers extended as if in astonishment, and with clawed feet.\nFollowing the curved line we come to the circle, enclosing a Spanish\ncaballero, who extends his hands in amity to the naked Indian standing\nwithout. Next appears a group with an officer, and a priest bearing the\nemblem of Christianity.\u201d The Pueblo Indians, who still worship the sun,\nrecognised in those picturings records of the thoughts and deeds of\ntheir ancestors. They pointed to representations of Montezuma, whom they\nstill expect to return, and who is regarded as a divine power; and\nrecognised in the horned men a representation of the buffalo-dance, from\ntime immemorial a national festival, at which they crowned themselves\nwith horns and corn-shucks. The drawing is in all probability an\nhistorical record executed at a date not long subsequent to the first\nintrusion of the Spaniards.\n\nLieutenant Whipple next describes the carvings found at El Moro\ninscription rock where, he says, \u201cSpanish adventurers and explorers,\nfrom as early a period as the first settlement of Plymouth, have been in\nthe habit of recording their expeditions to and from Zu\u00f1i.\u201d He refers\nfor those to Captain Simpson\u2019s report upon the Navajo expedition; but\nspecimens of the Indian drawings are given, which, he says, \u201care\nevidently more ancient than the oldest of the Spanish\ninscriptions.\u201d[101] The latter are, for the most part, regular literal\nrecords in the Spanish or Latin language, with names, and, in a few\ninstances, the date of their engraving. But the European epigraphists\nappear at times to have borrowed the ideographic art of their Indian\nguides, from the way several of their inscriptions are accompanied with\npictorial devices, or rebuses, somewhat after the native fashion of\nwriting. One, for example, which reads _Pito Vaca ye Jarde_, has also\nthe symbol of the _Vaca_, or \u201ccow.\u201d Another group, consisting of certain\ninitials interwoven into a monogram, accompanied by an open hand with a\ndouble thumb, all enclosed in cartouche-fashion, is supposed by the\ntranscriber to be, even more than the previous bit of pictorial\nsymbolism, a pictured pun. \u201cThe characters,\u201d he remarks, \u201cin the double\nrectangle seem to be literally a sign-_manual_, and may possibly be\nsymbolical of Francisco Manuel, though the double thumb would seem to\nindicate something more.\u201d The Provincial Secretary, Donaciano Vigil,\nafter noting for Lieutenant Simpson some data relative to the Spanish\ninscriptions, adds: \u201cThe other signs or characters are traditional\nremembrances, by means of which the Indians transmit historical accounts\nof all their remarkable successes. To discover (or interpret) these sets\nby themselves, is very difficult. Some of the Indians make trifling\nindications, which divulge, with a great deal of reserve, something of\nthe history, to persons in whom they have entire confidence.\u201d\n\nOn the summit of the cliff the ruins of a pueblo of bold native masonry\nformed a rectangle of 206 feet by 307 feet, around which lay an immense\naccumulation of broken pottery of novel and curious patterns. At Los\nOjos Calientes, Lieutenant Simpson visited the _estuffas_, buildings one\nstory high, called the churches of Montezuma. \u201cOn the walls were\nrepresentations of plants, birds, and animals; the turkey, the deer, the\nwolf, the fox, and the dog, being plainly depicted; none of them,\nhowever, approaching to exactness except the deer, the outline of which\nshowed certainly a good eye for proportion.\u201d These are the work of the\nJemez Indians, who worshipped the sun, moon, and fire; representations\nof which in circular form, and with zigzag barbed lines for lightning,\nalso occur on the walls.[102] Lieutenant Simpson remarks that he asked a\nJemez Indian \u201cWhether they still worshipped the Sun, as God, with\ncontrition of heart.\u201d His reply was: \u201cWhy not? He governs the World!\u201d\n\nDr. Hoffman figures and interprets a curious rock-painting, copied by\nhim from a granite boulder at Tulare river, California. It covers an\narea of about twelve feet by eight; and the largest figure is about six\nfeet in length, and appears to be the work of an advanced party of\nnative explorers, intended for the guidance of those who followed on\ntheir trail.[103] Dr. Hoffman also furnishes some interesting\nillustrations of the reproduction of gesture-language in native\npictographs preserved in the Museum of San Francisco. Certain symbols\nare in very general use. But the description of an Innuit drawing on a\nslat of wood, as interpreted by a native, partly in his own dialect, but\nlargely supplemented by gestures, will best illustrate this development\nof a system of picture-writing among a savage people. A human figure\ndirects his right hand to his own side, while, with his left, he points\naway from him. This is the _Ego_, the personal pronoun _I_. Again, a\nsimple tracing of the like figure, successively with a boat-paddle over\nhis head; his right hand to the side of his head; one finger elevated;\nhis hand stretched out in the direction indicated, with his harpoon, or\nhis bow and arrow, expresses his various actions. A spot enclosed in a\ncircle, and again a blank circle, mark the islands\u2014inhabited or\nuninhabited,\u2014to which he is bound. A canoe, with two persons in it,\ndefines the number going and the mode of transport; a phoca, or other\nanimal, indicates the prey; and the record closes with an outline of the\nhouse, or tent, towards which the canoe is directed. The whole is\nequivalent to a written memorandum left behind, to inform the members of\nhis family that he has gone in his boat to a particular island, where he\nwill pass the night,\u2014the right hand to the side of the head being a\nsymbol of sleep. From thence he will proceed to another island, where he\npurposes to catch a seal or sea-lion, and then he will return home. It\nis in no degree surprising to find that nearly the same symbols are in\nuse by widely different tribes; for, alike in their pictographs and\ngestures, they naturally aim at the most familiar and literal\nrepresentations. The Eskimo and Alaskans represent death, in their\ndrawings and bone carvings, by the symbol of a headless body, in nearly\nthe same way as the Iroquois, the Algonkins, and the Blackfeet. To this\nis added the spear, the bow and arrow, or the gun, to indicate the mode\nof death by violence. The ordinary symbol of sepulchral memorial is the\nreversing of the totem and other objects pictured on the grave-post. A\nsuccession of lines in rows or columns is the simplest mode of primitive\nnumeration, perpetuated among the Egyptians even so late as the\nPtolemaic dynasty. It appears to have been in use among the cave-men of\nthe V\u00e9z\u00e8re in pal\u00e6olithic times, and is common to all such records. But\nin the Eskimo and Indian pictographs the elevated hand, with one or more\nfingers extended, serves for numeration; and where the extended fingers\nand thumbs of both hands are represented on an exaggerated scale, it\nsignifies _multitude_. The native gestures, drawings, and spoken\nlanguages, have indeed to be studied together to understand fully the\nprocesses resorted to for the expression and interchange of ideas.\n\nTo the philologist, the efforts at supplying equivalent terms for\nobjects and ideas common to the many diverse races furnish a study full\nof interest. A Chinook or Clatsop word modified to _saghalie_,\nsignifying \u201cabove,\u201d or \u201chigh,\u201d is compounded with the Nootka _tyee_, as\nthe name of the High Chief, or God. _Elip_, a Chihalis word, signifies\n\u201cfirst,\u201d or \u201cbefore\u201d; _tilikum_, Chinook, is \u201cpeople, a tribe,\u201d or\n\u201cband\u201d; but the two words conjoined, _elip-tilikum_, lit. \u201cthe first\npeople,\u201d is employed in reference to a race of beings who preceded the\nIndians as inhabitants of the world, just as we speak of the\nAntediluvians. _Ipsoot_ is the Chinook word for \u201cto hide,\u201d _ipsoot\nwau-wau_ is \u201cto hide one\u2019s speech,\u201d _i.e._ \u201cto whisper.\u201d Or, again,\n_opitsah_ is a modification of the Chinook for \u201ca knife\u201d;\n_opitsah-yakka-sikha_, literally, \u201cthe knife\u2019s friend,\u201d is \u201ca fork.\u201d The\nsame word is also applied to a sweetheart. Such economic use of words is\nindeed by no means rare. But this branch of the subject lies apart from\nthe aim of the present paper. It may be noted, however, in passing, that\nmany of the jargon words, according to Mr. Gibbs, \u201chave been adopted\ninto ordinary conversation in Oregon, and threaten to become permanently\nincorporated as a local addition to the English.\u201d Mr. Horatio Hale, long\nago, stated as a result of his own observations, at an earlier date:\n\u201cThere are Canadians and half-breeds married to Chinook women, who can\nonly converse with their wives in this speech; and it is the fact,\nstrange as it may seem, that many young children are growing up to whom\nthis factitious language is really the mother-tongue, and who speak it\nwith more readiness and perfection than any other.\u201d[104] As to grammar,\nthe jargon has no more than the inevitable rudiments involved in the\nnecessity for expressing in some way ideas relating to time and number;\nand in these directions there is frequent resort to signs. But this,\nwhich accords with the first stage of picture-writing, is true of the\nspeech of many Indian tribes. Their gesture-language is being reduced to\nthe equivalent of a vocabulary, and is much more copious than that of\nthe Oregon jargon. In 1880 the United States Bureau of Ethnology issued\n\u201cA Collection of the gesture-signs and signals of the North American\nIndians\u201d; and although this was only designed as a preliminary step\ntowards the complete elucidation of the subject, it suffices to show how\nimportant a part signs and gestures play in the dialogue of many rude\ntribes. The Arapahoes, for example, according to Burton, \u201cpossess a very\nscanty vocabulary, and can hardly converse with one another in the dark.\nTo make a stranger understand them they must always repair to the\ncamp-fire for pow-wow.\u201d[105] We are not without some due appreciation,\neven now, of the eloquence of action, as well as of speech, in the\neffective orator; and Charles Lamb, in one of the _Essays of Elia_,\naptly reminds us how much even ordinary dialogue owes to expression for\nits full effect. Candle-light, \u201cour peculiar and household planet,\u201d is\nthe theme of the quaint humorist. \u201cWanting it,\u201d he says, \u201cwhat savage\nunsocial nights must our ancestors have spent, wintering in caves and\nunillumined fastnesses! . . . What repartees could have passed, when you\nmust have felt about for a smile, and handled a neighbour\u2019s cheek to be\nsure that he understood it?\u201d And so the grave humorist goes on to\npicture the privations of a supper party in \u201cthose unlanterned nights.\u201d\n\nBut the Indian, in many cases, resorts to the pencil, or its equivalent,\nfor the elucidation of subjects in which language fails him. He will\ntake a burnt stick and draw a map indicating the route that has to be\ntaken, the portages on a river, or the trail through the forest, after\nhe has failed by signs and gestures to convey his meaning; and he can\ninterpret with ease the drawings of Indians of other tribes. When\ncamping out on the Nepigon River in 1866, with Indian guides from the\nSaskatchewan, who were strangers to the locality, they interpreted the\ndrawings or carvings on a soft metamorphic rock overlaid by the syenite\nof that district; and were able thereby to tell us who had preceded\nthem, and to determine the route we should take. Lieutenant Whipple in\nthe narration of his route near the thirty-fifth parallel, remarks:\n\u201cNear the Llano Extacado were seen Pueblo Indians from San Domingo.\nAfter an introductory smoke they became quite communicative, furnishing\ncurious information as to their traditions and peculiar faith. When\nquestioned regarding the numbers and positions of the Pueblos in New\nMexico, they rudely traced upon the ground a sketch from which a map of\nthe country is reproduced in the Government Reports.\u201d[106] The Rev. Dr.\nO\u2019Meara, for many years a missionary among the Ojibway Indians of Lake\nSuperior, thus writes to me: \u201cThe Indians were always pictorial, even in\ncommon conversation, _i.e._ they liked to explain what they meant by\nmaking figures; and always, if you asked one of them for information as\nto the route to any place, he would make a rough map of it, either on\nthe sand or on a piece of birch-bark.\u201d This fully accords with my own\nexperience. I have repeatedly seen Indian guides take a piece of\nbirch-bark and indicate on it some idea otherwise inexpressible from our\nignorance of any common language. Their map-making must be familiar to\nall who have travelled much with Indian guides. They delineate with much\naccuracy the leading geographical features of any familiar locality. I\nhave in my note-books sketches made by Indians, when I have placed the\npencil in their hand, and indicated by signs some information I desired\nto obtain, about game, fishing, or other matters familiar to them; or\nabout their own tribal relationships, which they generally express in\ntotemic fashion by their symbolic bear, deer, beaver, eagle, turtle, or\nother animal. Such signs of the clan, tribe, or nation are familiar to\nevery Indian, as well as the ideographs of his own and others\u2019 names;\nand when represented on the roll of birch-bark, painted on the chiefs\nbuffalo robe, or inverted on his grave-post, they can be interpreted\nwith the same facility with which an heraldic student discerns the\nfamily history on the painted hatchment or the sculptured shields of\nsome noble mausoleum.\n\nBy an alphabet, strictly so called, we understand a series of symbols\nwhich have become the conventional equivalents to the eye of the sounds\nwhich combine to form the speech of a people. But _alpha_, _beta_, etc.,\nwere undoubtedly, in their first stage, pictures, and not arbitrary\nsigns; though they passed undesignedly into the demotic characters of\nthe Egyptian current hand, and were then transformed, from ideographic\nand syllabic characters, into the true phonetics out of which have come\nthe later alphabets of the civilised world. Egypt is justly credited\nwith the origination of a system of writing which lies at the foundation\nof all our inherited knowledge, and which, as Bacon says, \u201cmakes ages so\ndistant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations and inventions, the\none of the other.\u201d Yet the germ of all this lay in the graphic records\nof the pal\u00e6olithic cave-men; and the very same process of evolution from\npure pictorial representation to picture-writing or ideography, and so\nto arbitrary hieroglyphic signs, or word-writing, is seen in the graven\nrecords of Copan or Palenque, and on the ancient monuments of the Nile.\n\nIt is replete with interest thus to turn aside from the Old World, with\nall its wealth of intellectual progress associated with the letters of\nCadmus, and find that in the western hemisphere the human mind has\nfollowed the very same path in its struggle towards the light.\nLongfellow, in his \u201cSong of Hiawatha,\u201d has interwoven Algonkin and\nIroquois legends into a national epic, in which the elements of Indian\nprogress are all traced to this mythic benefactor, subsequently\nidentified by Mr. Horatio Hale, in his _Book of Iroquois Rites_, with a\nwise Onondaga chief of the fifteenth century. But, tracing in legendary\nfashion the early steps of Indian progress, the poet represents the\nmythic reformer mourning how all things perish and pass into oblivion.\nEven the great achievements and the traditions of their people fade away\nfrom the memory of the old men. And so he inaugurates the method of\nrecording events, which in reality we recognise as the natural product\nof the human mind in the exercise of that imitative faculty which the\ndiscoveries of comparatively recent years have revealed to us as in full\nactivity among the men of Europe\u2019s remote Post-Glacial era. With his\npaints of diverse colours he depicts on the smooth birch-bark simple\nfigures and symbols, such as are to be seen graven on hundreds of rocks\nthroughout the North American continent, and are in constant use by the\nIndian in chronicling his own deeds on his buffalo robe, or recording\nthose of the deceased chief on his grave-post. The result is a simple\nprocess of picture-writing, readily translatable, with nearly equal\nfacility, into the language of every tribe. Deeds of daring against\nIndians or white men are set forth by the native chronicler, and the\nrivals are clearly indicated by means of their characteristic costume\nand weapons. Headless figures are the symbols of the dead; scalps\nrepresent his own special victims; and in like manner incidents of the\nchase, or feats against the buffalo or grizzly bear, are recorded in\ngraphic picturings, which are as intelligible as any monumental\ninscription of ancient or modern times. The description in Longfellow\u2019s\nIndian epic of the celestial and terrestrial symbols, in actual use as\nAlgonkin and other aboriginal hieroglyphics, would answer, with slight\nmodification, for those still to be seen on the walls of Egyptian\ntemples and catacombs:\u2014\n\n    For the earth he drew a straight line,\n    For the sky a bow above it;\n    White the span between for day-time,\n    Filled with little stars for night-time;\n    On the left a point for sunrise,\n    On the right a point for sunset,\n    On the top a point for noontide;\n    And for rain and cloudy weather\n    Waving lines descending from it.\n\nThe picture-writing of the Aztecs, though greatly improved in execution,\nand simplified by abbreviations, was the same in principle as that of\nthe rude northern tribes. The recognised signs of the months and days of\ntheir calendar are not greatly in advance of Indian symbolism; while\nsome of their pictorial records are as definite pieces of literal\nrepresentation as the battle of the reindeer from the Dordogne cave, or\nthe peaceful grazing scene recovered from a Swiss grotto near Thayingen.\nOne example of such a pictorial chronicling of an important event has\nbeen repeatedly described, and aptly illustrates its practical\napplication. When Cortez held his first interview with the emissaries of\nMontezuma, one of the attendants of Teuhtlile, the chief Aztec noble,\nwas observed sketching the novel visitors, their peculiar costumes and\narms, their horses and ships; and by such means a report of all that\npertained to the strange invaders of his dominion was transmitted to the\nAztec sovereign. The skill with which every object was delineated\nexcited the admiration of the Spaniards. But however superior this may\nhave been as a piece of art, it was manifestly no advance on the\nprinciple of Indian picture-writing; nor can we be in much doubt as to\nits style of execution, since Lord Kingsborough\u2019s elaborate work\nfurnishes many facsimiles of nearly contemporary Mexican drawings. In\nthe majority of these, the totemic symbols, and the representations of\nindividuals by means of their animal or other cognomens, are abundantly\napparent. The specific aim of the artist has to be kept in view. The\nfigures are for the most part grotesque, from the necessity of giving\npredominance to the special feature in which the symbol is embodied. To\nthe generation for which such were produced, the connection between the\nsign, and the person or thing signified, would be manifest; and as a\nmnemonic aid, supplemented by verbal descriptions of the trained\nofficial registrars, the record would be ample. But a brief interval\nsuffices to render such abbreviated symbols obscure, if not wholly\nunintelligible; and within less than a century after the Conquest, De\nAlva could not find more than two surviving Mexicans, both very aged,\nwho were able to interpret the native pictorial records. Nevertheless a\nsystem of picture-writing, originating among the rude forest tribes with\nthe simple employment of the imitative faculty in the representation of\nfamiliar objects, with their associated ideas, had advanced on this\ncontinent to the very same stage from which, in ancient Egypt, the next\nstep was taken, resulting in the evolution of a phonetic alphabet, and\nso of all that is implied in letters in the largest sense.\n\nTo this grand aim of ideography, or an equivalent of written speech,\nmay, as it appears to me, be traced the earliest efforts at drawing and\npainting, reaching back to that strange dawn of intellectual vigour\nrevealed to us in the graphic art of the men of Europe\u2019s Pal\u00e6olithic\nage. The same effort at written speech underlies all the manifestations\nof the artistic faculty, common alike to the semi-civilised and to the\nbarbarous native races of this continent; and in the terms by which they\nexpress the graphic art in their various dialects, the common\nsignificance of drawing and writing is generally apparent. But the\n\u00e6sthetic faculty was thus stimulated into activity with results which\ntended to develop art in all its forms of carving, modelling, sculpture,\nand painting. An appreciation of colour, not merely for personal\nadornment, but in its artistic application\u2014alike as a decorative art,\nand as the means whereby natural objects can be presented with vivid\ntruthfulness to the eye,\u2014is widely diffused; though the mastery of form\nby the modeller or sculptor long precedes that of chiaroscuro, or aerial\nperspective. Aboriginal painting is crude, consisting mainly of colour\nwithout tone or shading, even where the drawing is correct. But paints\nand dyes, both of mineral and vegetable origin, are largely in use by\nmany Indian tribes. The Eskimo execute tasteful patterns on their skin\nrobes in diverse colours; and the northern tribes both to the east and\nwest of the Rocky Mountains dye porcupine quills and grasses, and with\nthem work ornamental patterns on their dresses and in basket-work. The\npottery of the Pueblo Indians is elaborately decorated in colours; and\nin various other ways\u2014as in the colouring of their masks, and the\npainting of their boats and houses, by the Indians of Oregon and British\nColumbia,\u2014the native taste for colour is manifested. Mr. Hugh Martin,\nin a communication of an early date to the American Philosophical\nSociety, gives an account of the principal dyes employed by the North\nAmerican Indians.[107] The Shawnees obtained a vegetable red, which they\ncalled _hau-ta-the-caugh_, from the root of a marsh plant, and largely\nused it in dyeing wool, porcupine quills, and the white hair of deers\u2019\ntails. From another root, the _Radix_ _flava_, a bright yellow was\nobtained, by mixing which with the red an orange tint is made. But they\nalso extracted a rich orange colour from the Poccon root. A fine\nvegetable blue is also easily procured, and this was transformed to\ngreen by means of a yellow liquor of the smooth hickory bark. Black,\nwhich is much in demand, was obtained both from the sumack and from the\nbark of the white walnut. All the colours thus far named are vegetable\ndyes, but mineral colours are in general use for painting, and\nespecially for personal decoration, which is no doubt the primary idea\nassociated in the Indian mind with the verb \u201cto paint.\u201d The Lenapes, Dr.\nBrinton remarks, \u201cobtained red, white, and blue clays, which were in\nsuch extensive demand that the vicinity of those streams in Newcastle\nCounty, Delaware, which are now called White Clay Creek and Red Clay\nCreek, are widely known to the natives as _Walamink_, \u2018the place of\npaint.\u2019\u201d[108] The Shawnees applied the name _Alamonee-sepee_, \u201cPaint\nCreek,\u201d to the stream which falls into the Scioto close to Chilicothe.\nThe word _walamen_, signifying \u201cto paint,\u201d is the Shawnee _alamon_, and\nthe Abnaki _wramann_, the _r_ being substituted for the _l_. Roger\nWilliams, describing the New England Indians, speaks of \u201c_wunnam_, their\nred painting, which they most delight in,\u2014both the bark of the pine, as\nalso a red earth.\u201d The word is derived from Narr. _wunne_, Del. _wulit_,\nChip. _gwanatseh_: \u201cbeautiful, handsome, good, pretty,\u201d etc. \u201cThe Indian\nwho had bedaubed his skin with red ochreous clay, was esteemed in full\ndress, and delightful to look upon. Hence the term _wulit_, \u2018fine,\npretty,\u2019 came to be applied to the paint itself.\u201d[109]\n\nA review of the terms of art in the diverse aboriginal vocabularies\nwould furnish an interesting supplement to the general question of the\nmanifestation of an artistic faculty, and the evidences of appreciation\nof art among savage races. I note a few illustrations, which the\nlanguages of some Northern Indian tribes supply, of the ideas associated\nin the native mind with terms of art. The Algonkin languages generally\nhave no distinctive words clearly discriminating between painting,\ndrawing, and writing in the sense of ideography; though the inevitable\ntendency to invent or appropriate words, as equivalents expressive of\nany novel object or idea, is in operation in those as in other\nlanguages. The Ojibways have no generic term for painting the body or\nface, but express it by some word connected with the specific colour in\nuse. For example, the painting the face black, as is done to a youth on\nattaining puberty, is _muhkuhdaekawin_. This consists of _muh-kuh-da_,\nmeaning \u201cblack,\u201d _eka_, the form which gives it the verbal significance,\n\u201che makes himself black,\u201d with the termination _win_, constituting the\nwhole a noun. So _misquah_, \u201cred,\u201d is the root of _misquah-ne-ga-zoo_,\n\u201che is painted red\u201d; _misquah-ne-gah-da_, \u201cit is painted red.\u201d\n_Oozahwah_, \u201cyellow,\u201d gives _oo-zah-we-ne-gah-zoo_, \u201che is painted\nyellow\u201d; with the corresponding terminal change for the neuter. But the\nword _oozahnamahne_, from _oonah_, \u201cthe cheek,\u201d is also used for\npainting the face either red or yellow. _Quahnaiy_, or _gwanai_, the\nword for \u201cbeautiful,\u201d is applied to moral as well as physical beauty,\n_e.g._ _gwanaienene_ would be used of a fair, honourable dealing man, as\nwell as of one who was handsome or good-looking. But such rhetorical\ntropes are common to many languages.\n\nI was indebted to the late Silas T. Rand, for upwards of thirty years a\nmissionary among the Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia, for the following\nillustrative details: \u201cThe Micmac is rich in words relating to art, the\nmaking and ornamenting of garments, moccasins, snow-shoes, etc., of\nweapons and implements for domestic use, making pottery and modelling in\nclay. For building and managing a canoe there are at least seventy-six\nwords. They have words for carving on stone, and also on wood, for\nmarking dressed skins with flower patterns, for carving flowers in\nstone, for scraping them on birch-bark dishes, for drawing a likeness,\nmaking models and patterns, and for working after them. When I was\nengaged in translating Exodus, and largely dependent on my Indian\nteacher for the words to express all the parts of the Tabernacle, its\ncoverings and furniture, mortices, tenons, hooks, fillets, loops, bars,\npins, sockets, etc., I fully expected to be baffled. What was my\nsurprise to find that there were words in the language by which to\nexpress all I needed. Boards, bars, bolts, pillars, poles, rings,\neverything was made, put together, and my \u2018pundit\u2019 an excellent\nmechanic, when he returned next day to go on with our work, assured me\nthat he had been dreaming about that \u2018wigwam\u2019 we had been erecting the\nprevious day, and he was sure he could make such a one. He had the\npattern in his head as clearly as Moses had it, after he had seen it up\nthe mountain.\u201d In the Micmac, _aweekum_ is \u201ca drawing,\u201d lit. \u201cI write\nit,\u201d \u201cI draw it\u201d; _essum_, \u201cI colour it\u201d; _elapskudaaga_, \u201cI am\ncarving,\u201d or \u201ccutting stone\u201d; _elapskudaam_, \u201cI am carving it in stone\u201d;\n_apsk_, which here denotes \u201cstone,\u201d is only used in composition;\n_coondow_ is the word for \u201cstone\u201d; _eloksowa_, \u201cI am carving in wood\u201d;\n_noojeweekuga_, \u201ca painter,\u201d \u201cdrawer,\u201d \u201cwriter,\u201d lit. \u201ca maker of\nmarks\u201d; _aweegasik_, \u201ca picture,\u201d lit. \u201cit is marked down,\u201d etc.\n\nThe Algonkin root _walam_, \u201cred,\u201d is the term employed in the _Walum\nOlum_, or \u201cRed Score of the Lenape,\u201d which was brought under the notice\nof the New York Historical Society, in 1848, by Mr. E. G. Squier, as\n_The Bark Record of the Lenni-Lenape_. His narrative has been more than\nonce reprinted; but the carefully edited version of this curious Indian\nideograph given by Dr. Brinton, in his _Lenape and their Legends_, will\nsupersede earlier and less accurate versions. The full translation with\nwhich the pictographic record of the _Walum Olum_ is accompanied,\nabundantly suffices to prove that it may be most correctly described as\na series of mnemonic signs employed for the purpose of keeping in memory\na national chant, of a class very familiar to the students of primitive\nhistory. The ballad-epics of the ancient Germans, and the still earlier\nlays of ancient Rome, the Abanic Duan, and others of the genealogical\nand historical poems of the Celtic nations, were all of this class; and\nanalogous traditionary chants have been perpetuated among the Maoris of\nNew Zealand. The system of pictography corresponds to that in use among\nthe Ojibways and other Algonkin tribes, including the totems, or\nsign-names; but it falls far short of true picture-writing. Section IV.\nrecords the conquest by the Lenape tribe, of the northern country, which\nthey call \u201cThe Snake Land.\u201d Bald Eagle, Beautiful Head, White Owl,\nKeeping Guard, Snow Bird, and a succession of other chiefs are named,\nall of whom are more or less graphically indicated by their totems; but\na paraphrastic interpretation accompanies them setting forth ideas that\nhave no pictorial representation. Then comes a horizontal line with ten\noblique lines rising from it, and three cross-lines below, with the\ninterpretation: \u201cAfter the Seizer there were ten chiefs and there was\nmuch warfare south and north.\u201d Next follows another succession of\nchiefs, each symbolised with some associated idea. Thus a group of six\nsmall circles, arranged upright in two columns, is surmounted by a\nlarger circle, with three oblique lines rising from the top. This is\nparaphrased: \u201cAfter him, Corn-Breaker was chief, who brought about the\nplanting of corn.\u201d It is not difficult to imagine in the drawing the\nconventional representation of an ear of corn; but the major idea can be\nno more than one suggested to the memory by association. In some\ninstances the picture-writing is more manifest. A horizontal line\nsurmounted by two _t\u00e9epees_, or buffalo-skin tents, is \u201cthe buffalo\nland.\u201d In one group, a semicircle with radiating lines, placed on a\nstraight line, is translated: \u201cLet us go together to the east, to the\nsunrise.\u201d In another case, nearly the same symbol\u2014assumed, no doubt, to\nrepresent the sun setting in the ocean,\u2014is rendered, \u201cat the great\nsea.\u201d It is, indeed, a system of picture-writing; but instead of being\nabbreviated into word-symbols, it is reduced to mere catch-words or\nmnemonic signs. Their value would be unquestionable as an aid to memory\nin the perpetuation of a mythic or historical poem; but, if the\ntradition were lost, they embody no sufficient record from which to\nrecover it.\n\nNeither the Iroquois nor the Algonkin nation can be pointed to as\nspecially gifted with imitative powers, or in other ways furnishing\nevidence of any highly developed artistic faculty. They cannot compare\nin this respect with the Zu\u00f1i, or others of the Pueblo Indians, among\nwhom the arts of long-settled, agricultural communities have been\ndeveloped for purposes of ornament as well as utility; nor is their\ninferiority less questionable when we compare them with some of the\nbarbarous tribes of the north-west coast, and the neighbouring islands.\nTheir languages confirm this; for while, as Mr. Cushing has shown, the\nZu\u00f1i language possesses many words relating to art-processes, the\nIroquois and Algonkin dialects supply such terms, for the most part, in\ndescriptive holophrasms, and not in primitive roots. Nevertheless, alike\nin their pottery and carvings, and in their picture-writing, they show a\ndegree of artistic capacity of which few traces are found in Europe\u2019s\nNeolithic age.\n\nIn the Ojibway, _oozhebegawin_ is used indiscriminately for \u201cwriting,\ndrawing, painting,\u201d _wazhebeegad_, for \u201ca man who writes, draws.\u201d In\ncombination with _muh-ze-ne_, \u201cfigure, form,\u201d such words are in use as\n_muhzenebe\u00e9gawin_, \u201ca painting, drawing\u201d; _muhzenebe\u00e9gawenene_ (M.),\n_muhzenebe\u00e9gawequa_ (F.), \u201ca painter, an artist\u201d; _muhzenebe\u00e9gun_, \u201ca\npicture.\u201d \u201cTo carve,\u201d or \u201cengrave on a rock,\u201d is _muhzeneko_;\n_muhzenekojegun_, \u201ca sculptor\u2019s chisel\u201d; _muhzenekoda_, \u201cit is carved,\u201d\netc. Again with _wahbegun_, \u201cclay,\u201d such holophrasms are obtained as\n_wahbegunoonahgunekawenene_, \u201ca man who makes earthen vessels, a\npotter,\u201d _wahbeguhega_, \u201ca worker in clay,\u201d lit. \u201cI work with\nclay.\u201d[110]\n\nIn previous remarks on the main subject of this paper, the development\nof the artistic faculty has been noted as, in many cases, an exceptional\nmanifestation of intellectual activity, alike in ancient and modern\nbarbarous races. The striking contrast between the richly fluent forms\nof the language, and the infantile condition of this people in relation\nto so much else, including metallurgy, and the application of the arts\ngenerally to the practical requirements of life, furnishes a no less\ninteresting illustration of intellectual development fostered by special\ninfluences in another direction. The habitual practice of oratory made\nthe Iroquois acute reasoners; and their language abounds in abstract\nterms to a degree altogether surprising in an uncivilised race. The\npurposes of the rhetorician also encouraged the tropical use of literal\nterms. It is not, therefore, difficult to understand how the primary\nsense of the verb \u201cto track\u201d or \u201ctrace out\u201d should ultimately yield the\nmeaning of \u201cdrawing\u201d or \u201csketching,\u201d and so finally of \u201cpainting.\u201d On\nthe other hand, it abundantly coincides with the instinctive use of the\nimitative faculty as a means of conveying definite ideas to others, that\nin the Iroquois, as in other languages, the same terms are used to\nexpress the idea of making a mark, drawing, or writing. The primitive\nhieroglyphics, from whence our phonetic alphabets have come, were first\nliteral drawings, and then their abbreviations employed to express\nassociated ideas. An ideographic purpose appears to underlie the\nearliest efforts of imitative art.\n\n-----\n\n[79] _Essai sur les d\u00e9formations artificielles du Cr\u00e2ne_, p. 74.\n\n[80] _Crania Britannica_, vi. Pl. 15; xiv. Pl. 12; xxxii. Pl. 42.\n\n[81] Vide _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, 2d ed. i. 495.\n\n[82] _Trans. Ethnol. Soc._, N.S. iii. 227.\n\n[83] _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, i. 495.\n\n[84] _I.e._ the Island of Santa Barbara. See \u201cRemarks on Aboriginal\nArt,\u201d in _Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Science_, iv. 121.\n\n[85] \u201cThe Right Hand:\u201d _Left-handedness_, pp. 35, 37.\n\n[86] _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot._, ix. 297, 301.\n\n[87] Vide _Prehistoric Man_, 3rd ed. ii. 54.\n\n[88] _Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific_, i. 241.\n\n[89] _Trans. Anthropol. Soc. Washington_, ii. 140.\n\n[90] _Marchand\u2019s Voyages_, ii. 282.\n\n[91] _Remarks on Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte\nIslands_, p. 118.\n\n[92] _The Lenape Stone: or the Indian and the Mammoth_, by H. C. Mercer.\nNew York, 1885, pp. 5, 17.\n\n[93] _Hommes fossiles et Hommes sauvages_, p. 49.\n\n[94] _Hommes fossiles_, etc., p. 46.\n\n[95] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, ii. 75.\n\n[96] \u201cAboriginal Monuments,\u201d etc., p. 76.\n\n[97] _Proceedings of Hamilton Association_, i. 54.\n\n[98] _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, xxii. 82.\n\n[99] The Rev. Mark Pattison, according to one biographer, Mr. Althaus,\nhad cultivated a habit of reticence, till it became one of his most\nmarked characteristics. His usual response to any remark was \u201cAh\u201d; but\nhis biographer adds: \u201cIt was interesting to observe of what a variety of\nshades of meaning that characteristic ejaculation \u2018Ah\u2019 was capable. Many\ntimes it was his sole answer. Mostly it signified that something had\naroused his interest; sometimes it conveyed approval, sometimes\nsurprise, sometimes doubt; sometimes it was said in a way that indicated\nhe did not wish to express himself on the point in question.\u201d\n\n[100] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to\nPacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39.\n\n[101] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to\nPacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39.\n\n[102] _Reports of Secretary of War, U.S._, 1850, p. 67.\n\n[103] _Transactions of Anthropol. Soc., Washington_, ii. 130.\n\n[104] _United States Exploring Expedition_, vii. 644.\n\n[105] _Burton\u2019s City of the Saints_, p. 157.\n\n[106] _Explorations and Surveys, Washington_, 1856, iii. 10, 36.\n\n[107] _Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc._ iii. 222.\n\n[108] _The Lenape and their Legends_, p. 53.\n\n[109] _Ibid._, pp. 60, 104.\n\n[110] See pp. 300, 301 for examples in Iroquois.\n\n\n\n\n                                   VI\n                   THE HURON-IROQUOIS: A TYPICAL RACE\n\n\nIT has already been noted in treating of pre-Aryan American men that\nthroughout the northern continent, from the Arctic circle to the Mexican\nGulf, no trace has been recovered of the previous existence of anything\nthat properly admits of the term \u201cnative civilisation.\u201d The rude arts of\nEurope\u2019s Stone age belong to a period lying far behind its remotest\ntraditions; unless we appeal to the mythic allusions of Hesiod, or to\nsuch poetic imaginings as the _Prometheus_ of \u00c6schylus. But all\navailable evidence serves to show that the condition of the native\ntribes throughout the northern continent has never advanced beyond the\nstage which finds its aptest illustration in the arts of their Stone\nperiod, including the rudimentary efforts at turning to account their\nample resources of native copper without the use of fire.\n\nBut this uniformity in the condition of the aborigines, and the\nconsequent resemblance in their arts, habits, and mode of life, has been\nthe fruitful source of misleading assumptions. Everywhere the European\nexplorer met only rude hunting and warring tribes, exhibiting such\nslight variations in all that first attracts the eye of the most\nobservant traveller, that an exaggerated idea of their ethnical\nuniformity was the natural result. In the systematisings of the\nethnologist, the American type was classed apart as at once uniform and\ndistinctive; and, strange as it may now seem, this idea found nowhere\nsuch ready favour as among those who had the fullest access to the\nevidence by which its truth could be tested. It was the most\ncomprehensive induction of the author of _Crania Americana_, as the\nfruit of his conscientious researches in American craniology. The\nauthors of _Indigenous Races of the Earth_ and _Types of Mankind_, no\nless unhesitatingly affirmed that \u201cidentical characters pervade all the\nAmerican races, ancient and modern, over the whole continent.\u201d[111] In\nthis they were sustained by the high authority of Agassiz, who, after\ndiscussing in his _Provinces of the Animal World, and their relation to\nTypes of Man_, the fauna peculiar to the American continent, and\npointing out the much greater uniformity of its natural productions,\nwhen its twin continents are compared with those of the eastern\nhemisphere, thus summed up the result of his investigations: \u201cWith these\nfacts before us, we may expect that there should be no great diversity\namong the tribes of man inhabiting this continent; and indeed the most\nextensive investigation of their peculiarities has led Dr. Morton to\nconsider them as constituting but a single race, from the confines of\nthe Esquimaux down to the southernmost extremity of the continent. But,\nat the same time, it should be remembered that, in accordance with the\nzoological character of the whole realm, this race is divided into an\ninfinite number of small tribes, presenting more or less difference one\nfrom another.\u201d It was natural and reasonable that the men of the\nsixteenth century should believe in Calibans, or Ewaipanoma, \u201cthe\nAnthropophagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders.\u201d\nAmerica was to them, in the most literal sense, another world; and it\nwas easier for them to think of it as peopled with such monstrosities\nthan with human beings like ourselves. But it is curious to note in this\nnineteenth century the lingering traces of the old sentiment; and to see\nmen of science still finding it difficult to emancipate themselves from\nthe idea that this continent is so essentially another world, that it is\ninconceivable to them that the races by which it is peopled should bear\nany affinity to themselves or to others of the Old World. American\nethnologists long clung to the idea of an essentially distinct\nindigenous race; and Dr. Nott, Dr. Meigs, and other investigators\nwelcomed every confirmation of the view of Dr. Morton as to the\noccupation of the whole American continent by one peculiar type from\nwhich alone the Eskimo were to be excepted, as an immigrant element,\npossibly\u2014according to the ingenious speculations of one distinguished\nstudent of science,\u2014of remotest European antiquity. Professor Huxley in\nan address to the Ethnological Society in 1869, suggests hypothetically,\nthat the old Mexican and South American races represent the true\nAmerican stock; and that the Red Indians of North America may be the\nproduct of an intermixture of the indigenous native race with the\nEskimo. It is noticeable, at any rate, that nearly all writers, however\nwidely differing on other points, follow Humboldt in classing the Eskimo\napart as a distinct type. He remarks in his preface to his _American\nResearches_, that, \u201cexcept those which border the polar circle, the\nnations of America form a single race characterised by the formation of\nthe skull, the colour of the skin, the extreme thinness of the beard,\nand the straight glossy hair.\u201d Some of the characteristics thus noted\nare undoubtedly widely prevalent; but the head-form, or \u201cformation of\nthe skull,\u201d is the most important; and a careful comparison of the\nskulls of different tribes has long since modified the opinion,\nexpressed by the great traveller and reasserted by distinguished\nAmerican ethnologists.\n\nIn reality, were the typical feature most insisted on as universal as it\nwas assumed to be, it would furnish the strongest argument for\nclassifying the predominant Asiatic and American types as one. All the\npoints appealed to suggest affinity to the Asiatic Mongol. But so far\nfrom the Eskimo standing apart as a markedly exceptional type, if due\nallowance be made for the prolonged influence of an Arctic climate, the\nHuron-Iroquois approximate to them in some very notable ethnical\nfeatures. The dolichocephalic head-form, especially, is common to them,\nand to the Algonkin and other Northern Indians. Of those Dr. Latham\nremarks: \u201cThe Iroquois and Algonkins exhibit in the most typical form\nthe characteristics of the North American Indians as exhibited in the\nearliest descriptions, and are the two families upon which the current\nnotions respecting the physiognomy, habits, and moral and intellectual\npowers of the so-called Red Race are chiefly founded.\u201d Of the former,\nMr. Parkman, who has studied their later history with the minutest care,\nsays: \u201cIn this remarkable family of tribes occur the fullest\ndevelopments of Indian character, and the most conspicuous examples of\nIndian intelligence. If the higher traits popularly ascribed to the race\nare not to be found here, they are to be found nowhere.\u201d[112] To this\ntypical American race, accordingly, and to some of its peculiarly\ndistinctive usages, special attention is here directed.\n\n                 *        *        *        *        *\n\nThe Iroquois were an important branch of the great stock which included\nalso the Hurons, or Wyandots, the native historical race of Canada. But\ndivided as the two were throughout the whole period of French Canadian\nhistory by the bitterest antagonism, it is convenient to speak of them\nunder the term of Huron-Iroquois. In reviewing the history of this\nindigenous stock, with the suggestions prompted by their peculiar\ncharacteristics, it is desirable not only to note the physical geography\nof the country which they occupied, as a region of forest and lakes,\nbut, still more, to keep in view this fact as a predominant\ncharacteristic of the continent, and as one important factor in the\nevolution of whatever may seem to be peculiar in the forest tribes of\nNorth America.\n\nThe effects resulting from the physical features of a country on the\ndevelopment and intermingling of its races can nowhere be wisely\noverlooked. Even within the limits of the British Islands the influences\nof mountain and lowlands: of the fertile stretches of Kent and the\nvalley of the Thames, the fens of Lincolnshire, the moorlands of\nNorthumbria, and the Welsh and Scottish Highlands, have largely\ncontributed to the perpetuation, if not in some degree to the\ndevelopment, of ethnical distinctions and the diversities in language.\n\nIn this respect Britain is an epitome of Europe, with its great mountain\nranges and detached peninsulas, by means of which races have been\nisolated within well-defined areas, and their languages and other\ndistinctive peculiarities preserved. Russia alone, of all European\ncountries, presents analogies to Northern Asia as a region favourable to\nnomadic life; and in so far as its history differs from that of the\ncontinent at large, it accords with such physical conditions. Throughout\nthe whole historic period, as doubtless in prehistoric times, the great\nchain of mountains reaching from the western spur of the Pyrenees to the\nBalkans has influenced European progress; while the chief navigable\nriver, the Danube, traversing the continent through one uniform\ntemperate zone, has tended still further to the perpetuation of certain\ndistinctive ethnical characteristics in Central Europe. In all its most\nimportant geographical features, the northern continent of America\npresents a striking contrast to this. An isosceles triangle with its\nbase within the Arctic circle, it tapers to a narrow isthmus towards the\nequator. Its great mountain chain runs from north to south, and in near\nproximity to the Pacific coast; and its chief navigable river, rising\nwithin the Canadian Dominion, and receiving as its tributaries rivers\ndraining vast regions on either hand, traverses twenty degrees of\nlatitude before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. A lower range of\nhighlands towards the Atlantic seaboard forms the eastern boundary of\nthe great interior plain. But the Alleghanies or Appalachian system of\nmountains, though they may be said to extend from the St. Lawrence to\nthe Mexican Gulf, rise only at a few points, as in the White Mountains\nof New Hampshire, to any great elevation. They form rather a long\nplateau, intersected by wide valleys, diversifying the landscape,\nwithout constituting strongly defined barriers or lines of demarcation.\nAs a whole, the continent of North America, eastward from the Rocky\nMountains, may be described as a level area, so slightly modified by any\nelevated regions throughout its whole extent, from the Arctic circle to\nthe Gulf of Mexico, as to present no other impediment except its forests\nto the wanderings of nomadic tribes. It is interlaced with rivers, and\ndiversified everywhere with lakes, alike available for navigation and\nfor fishing; and, until the intrusion of European immigrants, its\nforests and prairies abounded with game far in excess of the wants of\nits population. Everything thus tended to perpetuate the condition of\nnomadic hunter tribes. This stage of native American history inevitably\ndrew to a close under the influence of European institutions and\ncivilisation; but it is interesting to note, that the same absence of\nany well-defined geographical limitations of area, which tended to\nperpetuate the nomadic habits of the savage, has aided in consolidating\nthe great confederacy of the United States, and maintaining an ethnical\nand political conformity throughout the northern continent in striking\ncontrast to the diversities in race and political institutions in\nEurope.\n\nHistory and native traditions alike confirm the idea that the valley of\nthe St. Lawrence was the habitat of the Huron-Iroquois stock as far back\nas evidence can be appealed to. The Huron traditions tell of a time when\nthe Province of Quebec was the home of the race eastward to the sea;\nwhile those of three at least of the members of the Iroquois confederacy\nin legendary fashion claimed their birth from the soil south of the\ngreat river. When the French explorers, under the leadership of Jacques\nCartier, first entered the St. Lawrence, in 1535, they found at\nStadacon\u00e9 and Hochelaga\u2014the old native sites now occupied by the cities\nof Quebec and Montreal,\u2014a population apparently of the Huron-Iroquois\nstock; and, in so far as reliance may be placed on their traditions,\nCanada was then populous throughout the whole valley of the St. Lawrence\nwith industrious native tribes, the representatives of a race that had\noccupied the same region for unnumbered centuries. \u201cSome fanciful tales\nof a supernatural origin from the heart of a mountain; of a migration to\nthe eastern seaboard; and of a subsequent return to the country of the\nlakes and rivers, where they finally settled, comprise,\u201d says\nBrownell,[113] \u201cmost that is noticeable in the native traditions of the\nSix Nations prior to the grand confederation.\u201d But the value of such\ntraditionary transmission of national history among unlettered tribes\nhas received repeated confirmation; and incidents in the history of\ntheir famous league, perpetuated with circumstantial minuteness in the\ntraditions of the Iroquois, are assignable apparently to the fifteenth\ncentury. The older event of the overthrow of the Allig\u00e9wi, in the Ohio\nvalley, of which independent traditional records have been handed down\nby the Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, and by the Iroquois, is now believed\nto be correctly assignable to a date nearly contemporaneous with the\nassumption of the authority of Bretwalda of the Heptarchy by Egbert of\nWessex,\u2014that memorable step in the fusion of \u201cnations\u201d not greatly more\nimportant than those of the Iroquois league, until their divisions in\nspeech and polity were effaced in the unity of the English people. As to\n\u201cthe fanciful tale of a supernatural origin from the heart of a\nmountain,\u201d it is simply a literal rendering of the old Greek metaphor of\nthe autochthones, or children of the soil, symbolised by the Athenians\nwearing the grasshopper in their hair; and is by no means peculiar to\nthe Iroquois. Mr. Horatio Hale derived from Manderong, an old Wyandot\nchief, the story, as narrated to him by the Hurons of Lorette. They took\nhim, he said, to a mountain, and showed him the opening in its side from\nwhence the progenitors of the people emerged, when they \u201cfirst came out\nof the ground.\u201d[114] The late Huron chief, Tahourench\u00e9, or\nFran\u00e7ois-Xavier Picard, communicated to me the same legendary tradition\nof the indigenous origin of his people; telling me, though with a smile,\nthat they came out of the side of a mountain between Quebec and the\ngreat sea. He connected this with other incidents, all pointing to a\ntraditional belief that the northern shores of the lower St. Lawrence\nwere the original home of the race; and he spoke of certain ancient\nevents in the history of his people as having occurred when they lived\nbeside the big sea. The earliest authentic reference to this tradition\noccurs in the _Relations_ for 1636, where Brebeuf, after a brief\nallusion to certain of their magical songs and dances, says: \u201cThe origin\nof all such mysteries is assigned by them to a being of superhuman\nstature, who was wounded in the forehead by one of their nation, at the\ntime when they lived near the sea.\u201d The references to a migration from\nthe seaboard obviously point to one of those incidents in the life of\nthe nation which marked for them an epoch like the Hegira of the Arabs.\nWhen Champlain followed Cartier nearly seventy years later he found only\na few Algonkins in their birch-bark wigwams, where the palisaded towns\nof the Huron-Iroquois had stood. But no Algonkin legend claims this as\ntheir early home. The invariable tradition of the Ojibways points to the\nLake Superior region and the country stretching towards Hudson Bay as\nthe ancestral home of the Algonkin tribes.\n\nSuch information as can thus be gleaned from a variety of independent\nsources, as from the somewhat confused yet trustworthy narrative of\nDavid Cusick, the Tuscarora historian, and from Peter Dooyentate, the\nWyandot historian, all leads to the same conclusion. From remote and\naltogether pre-Columbian centuries, the Hurons and other allied\ntribes\u2014the occupants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of\nvarious detached portions of the country north of the St. Lawrence and\neastward of the Georgian Bay,\u2014appear to have been in possession of the\nwhole region to which their oldest traditions pointed as the cradle of\nthe race; while nations of the Algonkin stock lay beyond them to the\nnorth-west. The great river and the lakes from whence it flows into the\nlower valley formed a well-defined southern boundary for affiliated\ntribes; but the first Dutch and English explorers of the Hudson, and of\nthe tract of country which now constitutes the western part of the State\nof New York, found the river-valleys and lake shores in occupation of\nthe Iroquois confederacy, then consisting of Mohawks, Oneidas,\nOnondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. These constituted the five nations of\nthe famous Iroquois league. But the Hurons of Canada, with whom they\nwere latterly at deadly feud, appear to have been the oldest\nrepresentatives of the common race, and were still in occupation of\ntheir ancestral home when Cartier first explored the St. Lawrence. The\nsame race had spread far to the south; and its representatives, in\ndetached groups, long continued to perpetuate its influence. These\nincluded the Conestogas or Andastes, the Andastogues, the Carantouans,\nthe Cherohakahs or Nottoways, the Tuscaroras, and others, under various\nnames. It is not always easy to recognise the same tribe under its\nwidely dissimilar designations. The Susquehannocks of the English and\nthe Minquas of the Dutch, appear to be the Andastes under other\ndesignations, and Champlain\u2019s Carantouans may have been the Eries. Under\nthose and other names the Huron-Iroquois stock extended to the country\nof the Tuscaroras in North Carolina. Still farther south Gallatin\nsurmised, from linguistic evidence, a connection between the Cherokees\nand the Iroquois.[115] This fact Mr. Hale has placed beyond doubt; and\nhaving detected in the language of the former a grammatical structure\nmainly Huron-Iroquois, while the vocabulary is to a great extent\nforeign, he is inclined to think that we thus recover traces of a\npeople, far south in Alabama and Georgia, the descendants of refugees of\nthe conquered Allig\u00e9wi, adopted into one of the nations of their\nIroquois conquerors.[116]\n\nFrom one after another of the outlying southern offshoots of the common\nstock, additions were made from time to time, to restore the numbers of\nthe decimated Iroquois. Westward of the confederacy was the country of\nthe Eries, an offshoot of the Seneca nation, occupying the southern\nshore of the great lake which perpetuates their name. Immediately to the\nnorth of the Eries, within the Canadian frontier, the Attiwendaronks, or\nNeuters, occupied the peninsula of Niagara, while the Tiontates or\nPetuns, and other tribes of the same stock, were settled in the fertile\nregion between Lakes Erie and Huron. In 1714, the Tuscaroras, when\ndriven by the English out of North Carolina, were welcomed by their\nIroquois kinsmen, and received into the league which thenceforth bore\nthe name of the Six Nations. Towards the middle of the same century the\nwaste of war made them ready to welcome any additions to their numbers;\nand the Tuteloes and Nanticokes, both apparently Algonkin, furnished\nfresh accessions to the diminished numbers of the confederacy, but\nwithout taking their place as distinct nations.\n\nBut of all the nations of the stock thus widely spread westward and\nsouthward, the Hurons are the native historical race of Canada,\nintimately identified with incidents of its early settlement and of\nfriendly intercourse with _La Nouvelle France_. Their language is now\nrecognised as the oldest form of the common speech of the\nHuron-Iroquois, and it is not creditable to Canadian philologists that\nits grammar still remains unrepresented in any accurate printed form.\nThe Literary and Historical Society of Quebec did, indeed, publish in\nits _Transactions_, in 1831, the translation of a Latin MS., compiled\nwith much industry by a missionary who had laboured among the Hurons of\nLorette, and whose anonymous work was found amongst the papers of the\nmission. But it is the production of one ignorant of the science of\nlanguage, and gives no adequate idea either of the grammatical structure\nor of the variety and richness of the Huron tongue.\n\nThe languages or dialects spoken by many native Indian tribes have\nundoubtedly perished with the races to which they pertained; but the\nnumerous Huron-Iroquois dialects still existing, not only in written\nform, but as living tongues, afford valuable materials for ethnical\nstudy. The history of other Indian tribes abundantly accounts for the\nmultiplication of a minute diversity of languages so specially\ncharacteristic of the American continent, with the endless subdivisions\nof its indigenous population into petty tribes, kept apart by\ninternecine feuds. The number of native American languages is estimated\nby Vater, in his _Linguarum Totius Orbis Index_, at about five hundred.\nBut the question forthwith arises: What shall be regarded as\nconstituting a language? For, in the wanderings of little bands of\nIndian nomads, and the adoption of refugees from disbanded tribes,\ndialects multiply indefinitely. Nearly six hundred of such are\ncatalogued by Mr. Bancroft, in his _Native Races of the Pacific States_,\nas spoken between Alaska and the Isthmus of Panama.\n\nUntil recently the tendency has been to assume an underlying unity of\nspeech for the whole American languages, based on the polysynthetic or\nholophrastic characteristic ascribed to the whole; just as by an\nexaggerated estimate of the prevalence of a predominant head-form, one\nphysical type was long assumed to characterise the American race from\nHudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego. Perhaps, so far as language is\nconcerned, the present tendency is towards the opposite extreme. Major\nPowell, the chief of the Ethnographical Bureau at Washington, recognises\neighty groups of languages in North America, between which no affinity\nis thus far apparent. Fifty-five of those he believes to be\nsatisfactorily determined as distinct stocks. On the other hand,\nProfessor Whitney, after noticing the complexity of the inquiry when\ndirected to the native American languages, thus proceeds: \u201cYet it is the\nconfident opinion of linguistic scholars that a fundamental unity lies\nat the base of all these infinitely varying forms of speech; that they\nmay be, and probably are, all descended from a single parent\nlanguage.\u201d[117]\n\nHere then is a field for much useful research, with the promise of\nvaluable results. The subject is rendered more important owing to the\nfact that, of nearly all the nations of the North American continent,\ntheir languages are the only surviving memorials of the race. Already,\nunder the efficient supervision of the Ethnographic Bureau of the United\nStates, systematic contributions are being secured for this important\nbranch of knowledge, so far as their own geographical area is concerned.\nA no less important area is embraced in the Dominion of Canada, and the\nattention of the Government is now directed to the necessity for timely\naction in this matter. In the North-West, and in British Columbia,\nlanguages are disappearing and races becoming extinct. Mr. Hale has\ncontributed to the American Philosophical Society\u2019s _Transactions_ a\nvaluable monogram on the Tutelo tribe and language, derived mainly from\nNikonha, the last full-blood Tutelo, who survived till upwards of a\nhundred years of age. He was married to a Cayuga woman, and lived among\nher people on their Grand river reserve. \u201cMy only knowledge of the\nTuteloes,\u201d says Mr. Hale, \u201chad been derived from the few notices\ncomprised in Gallatin\u2019s _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes_, where they are\nclassed with the nations of the Huron-Iroquois stock. At the same time\nthe distinguished author, with the scientific caution which marked all\nhis writings, is careful to mention that no vocabulary of the language\nwas known. That which was now obtained showed, beyond question, that the\nlanguage was totally distinct from the Huron-Iroquois tongues, and that\nit was closely allied to the language of the Dakota family.\u201d[118] But\nfor the timely exertion of a philological student, this interesting link\nin the history of the Huron-Iroquois relations with affiliated tribes\nwould have been lost beyond recall.\n\nThe history of the Huron-Iroquois race, and especially of the Six Nation\nIndians, since the settlement of the main body for the past century on\ntheir reserves on the Grand river, in the Province of Ontario, curiously\nillustrates the pertinacity with which they have cherished the dialectic\nvarieties of a common tongue. But while the essential differences of\nlanguage everywhere constitute one of the most obvious distinctions of\nrace, it is interesting to note the recognition by the Indians of\naffinities of dialects, and even remote kinship based on such evidence;\nas in the readmission of the Tuscaroras to the Iroquois family of\nnations. According to Brebeuf, the kinship of the Attiwendaronks of the\nNiagara peninsula was recognised by the Hurons in that designation which\nclassed them as a \u201cpeople of a language a little different.\u201d[119] Peter\nJones Kahkewaquonaby, a civilised Ojibway, adopted into the Mohawk\nnation, in speaking of the traditions of the Indians as to their own\norigin, says: \u201cAll the information I have been able to gain in relation\nto the question amounts to the following. Many, many winters ago the\nGreat Spirit, Keche-Manedoo, created the Indians. Every nation speaking\na different language is a second creation, but all were made by the same\nSupreme Being.\u201d[120]\n\nAmong the races of the northern continent, none east of the Rocky\nMountains more fitly represent their special characteristics than the\ngreat Huron-Iroquois family. Their language is remarkable for its\ncompass and elaborate grammatical structure; and the numerous dialects\nof the common mother tongue furnish evidence of migration and conquest\nover a wide region eastward of the Mississippi. To such philological\nevidence many inquirers are now turning for a clue to the origin of the\nraces of the New World, and for the recovery of proofs of their affinity\nto one or other of the Old World stocks. Professor Whitney, after\ndwelling on the \u201cexaggeratedly agglutinative type\u201d of the ancient\nIberian language, and its isolation among the essentially dissimilar\nlanguages of Aryan Europe, thus proceeds: \u201cThe Basque forms a suitable\nstepping-stone from which to enter the peculiar linguistic domain of the\nNew World, since there is no other dialect of the Old World which so\nmuch resembles in structure the American languages\u201d[121]; not indeed, as\nhe adds, that they are all of accordant form; for he pronounces the\ngrouping of them in a single great family as \u201ca classification of\nignorance.\u201d The possibilities of ancient communication between the\nopposite shores of the Atlantic, and the migration of colonists of the\nNew World from the Mediterranean Sea, have already been discussed in\ndealing with the legend of the Lost Atlantis. Great indeed as is the\ninterval of time therein implied, it would not suffice to erase all\ntraces of affinity of languages. But it would be vain to hope for any\nhistorical guidance recoverable from the oldest of Iroquois legends. If,\nmoreover, Iberian, Hittite, Egyptian, Ph\u0153nician, or other of the world\u2019s\ngray fathers, transplanted to America the germs of its long indigenous\nstock, we look in vain for any traces of their Old World civilisation\nnorth of the Mexican Gulf. Nor is it by any means an established truth\nthat the arts of Central America or Peru are of any very great\nantiquity. Their metallurgy was at a crude, yet suggestive, stage at\nwhich it was not likely to be long arrested. The same may be said of\ntheir hieroglyphic records; though they certainly present some highly\nsignificant analogies to the Chinese phase of word-writing, calculated,\nalong with other aspects of resemblance to that stage of partial, yet\nlong-enduring, civilisation of which China is the Asiatic exemplar, to\nmodify our estimate of the possible duration of Central and Southern\nAmerican civilisation. Nevertheless the assumption of an antiquity in\nany degree approximating to that of Egypt seems wholly irreconcilable\nwith the evidence. Their architecture was barbaric, though imposing from\nthe scale on which their great temples and palaces were built. In\nCentral America especially, the aggregation of numerous ill-lighted\nlittle chambers, like honey-comb cells excavated out of the huge pile,\nis strongly suggestive of affinity to the Casas Grandes, and the Pueblos\nof the Zu\u00f1i; and this is confirmed by the correspondence traceable\nbetween many of their architectural details and the ornamentation of the\nPueblo pottery.\n\nThe astronomy and the calendars, both of Mexico and Peru, with their\ndetailed methods of recording their divisions of time, are all\nsuggestive of an immature phase of civilisation in the very stage of its\nemergence from barbarism, modified, in some cases, by the recent\nacquisition of certain arts. As to the peculiar phase of Mexican art,\nand whatever other evidence of progress Mexico supplies, they appear to\nme no more than natural products of the first successful intrusion of\nthe barbarians of the northern continent on the seats of tropical\ncivilisation. Certain it seems, at least, that if an earlier\ncivilisation had ever existed in the north, or if the representatives of\nany Old World type were present there in numbers for any length of time,\nsome traces of their lost arts must long since have come to light.\n\nBut the conservative power of language is indisputable; and if the\nkinship now claimed for the polysynthetic languages of both hemispheres\nbe correct, we are on the threshold of significant disclosures. The\nHuron-Iroquois tongue, in its numerous ramifications, as well as some of\nthe native languages that have outlived the last of the races to which\nthey belonged, may preserve traces of affinities as yet unrecognised.\nBut in no respect are the Huron-Iroquois more correctly adducible as a\ntypical race of American aborigines than in the absence of all evidence\nof their ever having acquired any of the arts upon which civilisation\ndepends. We look in vain in their vocabularies for terms of science, or\nfor names adapted to the arts and manufactures on which social progress\ndepends. But they had developed a gift of oratory, for which their\nlanguage amply sufficed, and from which we may infer the presence in\nthis race of savages of latent powers, capable of wondrous development.\n\u201cTheir languages show, in their elaborate mechanism, as well as in their\nfulness of expression and grasp of thought, the evidence of the mental\ncapacity of those who speak them. Scholars who admire the inflections of\nthe Greek and Sanscrit verb, with their expressive force and clearness,\nwill not be less impressed with the ingenious structure of the verb in\nIroquois. It comprises nine tenses, three moods, the active and passive\nvoices, and at least, twenty of those forms which in the Semitic\ngrammars are styled conjugations. The very names of these forms will\nsuffice to give evidence of the care and minuteness with which the\nframers of this remarkable language have endeavoured to express every\nshade of meaning. We have the diminutive and augmentative forms, the\ncis-locative and trans-locative, the duplicative, reiterative, motional,\ncausative, progressive, attributive, frequentative, and many\nothers.\u201d[122] To speak, indeed, of the Iroquois as, in a consciously\nactive sense, the framers of all this would be misleading. But it\nunquestionably grew up in the deliberations around the council fire,\nwhere the conflicting aims of confederate tribes were swayed by the\neloquence of some commanding orator, until the fiercest warrior of this\nforest race learned to value more the successful wielding of the tongue\nin the _Kanonsionni_, or figurative Long House of the League, even than\nthe wielding of the tomahawk in the field. At the organisation of the\nconfederacy, the Canyengas or Mohawks were figuratively said to have\n\u201cbuilt a house,\u201d _rodinonsonnih_, or rather to have \u201cbuilt the long\nhouse\u201d in which the council fire of the Five Nations was kindled. Of\nthis the Senecas, lying on the extreme west, were styled the\n\u201cdoor-keepers,\u201d and the Onondagas, whose territory was central, were the\ncustodians. The whole usage is rhetorical and figurative. Under such\ninfluences the language of the Huron-Iroquois was framed, and it grew\nrich in emotional and persuasive forms. It only needed the evolution of\na true alphabet out of the pictorial symbolism on their painted robes,\nor the grave-posts of their chiefs, to inaugurate a literature which\nshould embody the orations of the Iroquois Demosthenes, and the songs of\na native Homer, for whom a vehicle of thought was already prepared, rich\nand flexible as poet could desire.\n\nSo far as the physical traits of the American aborigines furnish any\nevidence of ethnical affinity they unquestionably suggest some common\nline of descent with the Asiatic Mongol; and this is consistent with the\nagglutinate characteristics common to a large class of languages of both\ncontinents. But, on the other hand, the characteristic head-form of the\nHuron-Iroquois, as well as that of Algonkin and other northern tribes,\ndeviates alike from the brachycephalic type of the southern Indians and\nfrom that of the Asiatic Mongols. Humboldt, who enjoyed rare\nopportunities for studying the ethnical characteristics of both\ncontinents, but to whom, nevertheless, the northern races, with their\ndolichocephalic type of head were unknown, dwells, in his _American\nResearches_, on the striking resemblance which the American race bear to\nthe Asiatic Mongols. Latham classes both under the common head of\nMongolid\u00e6; and Dr. Charles Pickering, of the American Exploring\nExpedition, arrived at the same conclusion as the result of his own\nindependent study of the races of both continents. Nevertheless, however\ngreat may be the resemblance in many points between the true Red Indian\nand the Asiatic Mongol, it falls short of even an approximate physical\nidentity. The Mongolian of Asia is not indeed to be spoken of as one\nunvarying type any more than the American. But the extent to which the\nMongolian head-form and peculiar physiognomy characterise one widely\ndiffused section of the population of the eastern continent, gives it\nspecial prominence among the great ethnical divisions of the human race.\nMorton assigns 1421 as the cranial capacity of eighteen Mongol, and only\n1234 as that of 164 American skulls other than Peruvian or Mexican. Dr.\nPaul Topinard, in discussing the American type, adds: \u201cIf we are to rely\non the method of cubic measurement followed by Morton, the American\nskull is one of the least capacious of the whole human race.\u201d[123] But\nDr. Morton\u2019s results are in some respects misleading. The mean capacity\nyielded by the measurements of 214 American skulls in the Peabody Museum\nof Arch\u00e6ology, including a considerable number of females, is 1331; and\nwith a carefully selected series, excluding exceptionally large and\nsmall crania, the results would be higher. Twenty-six male California\nskulls, for example, yield a mean capacity of 1470. The Huron-Iroquois\ncrania would rank among such exceptional examples.[124] The forehead is,\nindeed, low and receding, but the general cerebral capacity is good; and\nDr. Morton specially notes its approximation to the European mean.[125]\n\nBut the assumption of uniformity in the ethnical characteristics of the\nvarious races of North and South America is untenable. All probabilities\nrather favour the idea of different ethnical centres, a diversity of\norigin, and considerable admixture of races. All evidence, moreover,\nwhether physical or philological, whatever else it may prove, leaves no\nroom for doubt as to a greatly prolonged period of isolation of the\nnative races of the New World. Whether they came from the Mediterranean,\nin that old mythic dawn the memory of which survived in the legend of a\nsubmerged Atlantis; or the history of their primeval migration still\nlingers among fading traces of philological affinity with the Basques;\nor if, with the still more remote glimpses which affinite Arctic\nethnology has been assumed to supply, we seek to follow the pal\u00e6olithic\nrace of Central Europe\u2019s Reindeer period in the long pilgrimage to\nBehring Straits, and so to the later home of the American Mongol; this,\nat least, becomes more and more obvious, that they brought with them no\narts derived from the ancient civilisations of Egypt or of Asia. So far,\nat least, as the northern continent is concerned, no evidence tends to\nsuggest that the aborigines greatly differed at any earlier period from\nthe condition in which they were found by Cartier when he first entered\nthe St. Lawrence. They were absolutely ignorant of metallurgy; and\nnotwithstanding the abundance of pure native copper accessible to them,\nthey cannot be said even to have attained to that rudimentary stage of\nmetallurgic art which for Europe is spoken of as its \u201cCopper Age.\u201d\nCopper was to them no more than a malleable stone, which they fashioned\ninto axes and knives with their stone hammers. Their pottery was of the\nmost primitive crudeness, hand-fashioned by their women without the aid\nof the potter\u2019s wheel. The grass or straw-plaiting of their basket-work\nmight seem to embody the hint of the weaver\u2019s loom; but the products of\nthe chase furnished them with skins of the bear and deer, sufficient for\nall purposes of clothing. They had advanced in no degree beyond the\ncondition of the neolithic savage of Europe\u2019s Stone age when, at the\nclose of the fifteenth century, they were abruptly brought into contact\nwith its cultured arts. The gifted historian, Mr. Francis Parkman, who\nhas thrown so fascinating an interest over the story of their share in\nthe long-protracted struggle of the French and English colonists of\nNorth America, says of them: \u201cAmong all the barbarous nations of the\ncontinent the Iroquois stand paramount. Elements which among other\ntribes were crude, confused, and embryotic, were among them systematised\nand concreted into an established polity. The Iroquois was the Indian of\nIndians. A thorough savage, yet a finished and developed savage. He is\nperhaps an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without\nemerging from his primitive condition of the hunter.\u201d Yet with this high\nestimate of the race as pre-eminent among Red Indian nations, he adds:\n\u201cThat the Iroquois, left under their institutions to work out their\ndestiny undisturbed, would ever have developed a civilisation of their\nown, I do not believe.\u201d[126] They had not, in truth, taken the first\nstep in such a direction; and, were it not for the evidence which\nlanguage supplies, it would be conceivable that they, and the whole\nbarbarian nations of which they are a type, were Mongol intruders of a\nlater date than the Northmen of the tenth century; who, it seems far\nfrom improbable, encountered only the Eskimo of the Labrador coast, or\ntheir more southern congeners, then extending to the south of the St.\nLawrence. The prevalence of a brachycephalic type of head among southern\nIndian tribes, while dolichocephalic characteristics are common to the\nEskimo and to the Huron-Iroquois and other northern nations, lends\ncountenance to the idea of an intermixture of Red Indian and Eskimo\nblood. The head-forms, however, though both long, differ in other\nrespects; and a divergence is apparent on comparing the bones of the\nface, with a corresponding difference in their physiognomy.\n\nDr. Latham recognised the Iroquois as one of the most typical families\nof the North American race, and Mr. Parkman styles them \u201cthe Indian of\nthe Indians.\u201d The whole Huron-Iroquois history illustrates their\npatient, politic diplomacy, their devotion to hunting and to war. But\ntheir policy gave no comprehensive aim to wars which reduced their\nnumbers, and threatened their very existence as a race. Throughout the\nentire period of any direct knowledge of them by Europeans, there is\nconstant evidence of feuds between members of the common stock, due in\npart, indeed, to their becoming involved in the rivalries of French and\nEnglish colonists, but also traceable to hereditary animosities\nperpetuated through many generations. The strongly marked diversities in\nthe dialects of the Six Nations is itself an evidence of their long\nseparation, prior to their confederation, in the earlier half of the\nfifteenth century. By far the most trustworthy narrative of this famous\nleague is embodied by Mr. Horatio Hale in _The Iroquois Book of Rites_,\na contribution to aboriginal American literature of singular interest\nand value. Among the members of this confederacy the Tuscaroras occupy a\npeculiar position. They were reunited to the common stock so recently as\n1714, but their traditions accord with those of the whole Huron-Iroquois\nfamily in pointing to the Lower St. Lawrence as their original home; and\nthe diversity of the Tuscarora dialect from those of the older nations\nof the league furnishes a valuable gauge of the significance of such\ndifferences as evidence of the length of period during which the various\nmembers of the common stock had been separated. On the other hand, the\nmanner in which, in the absence of any hereditary feud, the Iroquois\nrespected the bonds of consanguinity, and welcomed the fugitive\nimmigrants from North Carolina, throws an interesting light on the\nhistory of the race, and the large extent of country occupied by it in\nthe time of its greatest prosperity.\n\nThe earliest home of the whole Huron-Iroquois stock was within the area\nof Quebec and Eastern Ontario, and they have thus a claim on the\ninterest of Canadians as their precursors in the occupation of the soil;\nwhile, in so far as its actual occupancy by the representatives of the\ncommon stock is concerned, the Hurons were welcomed to a friendly, if\nfatal, alliance with the early French colonists; and the Iroquois of the\nSix Nations have enjoyed a home, under the protection of England, on the\nwestern Canadian reserves set apart for their use upwards of a century\nago.\n\nThere is one notable inconsistency in the traditions of the\nHuron-Iroquois which is significant. The fathers of the common stock\ndwelt, according to their most cherished memories, in their northern\nhome on the St. Lawrence, and beside the great sea. It ranked also among\nthe ancient traditions of the \u201cWampum-keepers,\u201d or official annalists,\nthat there came a time when, from whatever cause, the\nCaniengas\u2014Ka-nyen-ke-ha-ka, or Flint people, _i.e._ the Mohawks,\u2014the\n\u201celdest brother\u201d of the family, led the way from the northern shore of\nthe St. Lawrence to their later home in what is now the State of New\nYork. But the prehistoric character of this later tradition is shown by\nthe fact that the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Senecas, all claimed for\nthemselves the character of autochthones in their later home. The\nprecise spot where, according to the cherished legend of the Oneidas,\nthey literally sprang from the soil, is still marked by \u201cthe Oneida\nStone,\u201d a large boulder of flesh-coloured syenite, from which the latter\ncalled themselves Oniota-aug, \u201cthe people begot from the stone.\u201d It\noccupies a commanding site overlooking a fine expanse of country\nstretching to the Oneida Lake. But, according to Mr. Hale, the name of\nthe Oneida nation, in the council of the league, was _Nihatirontakowa_,\nusually rendered the \u201cgreat-tree people,\u201d or literally \u201cthose of the\ngreat log.\u201d This designation is connected, most probably as an\nafterthought, with a legendary meeting of their people with\nHiawatha.[127] The beautiful legend of this benefactor of his people has\nbeen embalmed in the Indian epic of Longfellow, and dealt with as a\nchapter of genuine history in Mr. Horatio Hale\u2019s _Iroquois Book of\nRites_. At a period when the tribes were being wasted by constant wars\nwithin and without, a wise and beneficent chief arose among the\nOnondagas. His name is rendered: \u201che who seeks the wampum belt.\u201d He had\nlong viewed with grief the dissensions and misery of his people, and\nconceived the idea of a federal union which should ensure peace. The\nsystem which he devised was to be not a loose and transitory league,\nsuch as the Indian tribes were familiar with; but a permanent\norganisation, foreshadowing as it were the federal union of the\nAnglo-American Colonies. \u201cWhile each nation was to retain its own\ncouncil and its management of local affairs, the general control was to\nbe lodged in a federal senate, composed of representatives elected by\neach nation, holding office during good behaviour, and acknowledged as\nruling chiefs throughout the confederacy. Still further, and more\nremarkably, the confederation was not to be a limited one. It was to be\ninfinitely expansive. The avowed design of its proposer was to abolish\nwar altogether. He wished the federation to extend until all the tribes\nof men should be included in it. Such,\u201d says Mr. Hale, \u201cis the positive\ntestimony of the Iroquois themselves, and their statement is supported\nby historical evidence.\u201d[128] The league survived far on into the\neighteenth century; but the dream of universal peace among the nations\nof the New World, if it ever found any realisation, had vanished in the\nreawakening of the demon of strife.\n\nIn all the accounts of the Iroquois their league is noted as\ndistinguishing them from the Algonkins and other ruder tribes of North\nAmerica. The story of this league has been reproduced by successive\nhistorians, not without rhetorical exaggerations borrowed from the\ninstitutions of civilised nations, both of ancient and modern times. The\nlate Hon. L. H. Morgan says of this tribal union: \u201cUnder their federal\nsystem the Iroquois flourished in independence, and capable of\nself-protection, long after the New England and Virginia races had\nsurrendered their jurisdictions, and fallen into the condition of\ndependent nations; and they now stand forth upon the canvas of Indian\nhistory, prominent alike for the wisdom of their civil institutions,\ntheir sagacity in the administration of the league, and their courage in\nits defence. When their power and sovereignty finally passed away, it\nwas through the events of peaceful intercourse, gradually progressing to\nthis result.\u201d[129] Schoolcraft in like manner refers to \u201ctheir\nadvancement in the economy of living, in arms, in diplomacy, and in\ncivil polity,\u201d as evidence of a remote date for their confederacy.[130]\nBut while thus contrasting the \u201cpower and sovereignty\u201d of the Iroquois\nwith the \u201cdependent nations\u201d to the south, Schoolcraft leaves it\nmanifest that, whatever may have been the extent of the ancient\nconfederacy, in the seventeenth century their whole numbers fell short\nof 12,000; and in 1677 their warriors or fighting men were carefully\nestimated at 2150. The diversity of dialects of the different members of\nthe league is a source of curious interest to the philologist; but the\nfact that, among a people numerically so small, local dialects were thus\nperpetuated, is a proof of the very partial influence of the league as a\nbond of union. It serves to illustrate the general defect of native\nAmerican polity. \u201cNothing,\u201d says Max M\u00fcller, \u201csurprised the Jesuit\nmissionaries so much as the immense number of languages spoken by the\nnatives of America. But this, far from being a proof of a high state of\ncivilisation, rather showed that the various races of America had never\nsubmitted for any length of time to a powerful political\nconcentration.[131] The Iroquois were undoubtedly pre-eminent in the\nhighest virtues of the savage; and could they have been isolated in the\ncritical transitional stage, like the ancient Egyptians in their Nile\nvalley, the Greeks in their Hellenic peninsula, or the Anglo-Saxons in\ntheir insular stronghold\u2014\n\n    . . . . set in the silver sea\n    Which serves it in the office of a wall\n    Or as a moat defensive\u2014\n\nuntil they learned to unite with their courage and persistency in war\nsome of the elements of progress in civilisation ascribed to them, they\nmight have proved the regenerators of the continent, and reserved it for\npermanent occupation by races of native origin. \u201cWherever they went,\u201d\nsays Schoolcraft, \u201cthey carried proofs of their energy, courage, and\nenterprise. At one period we hear the sound of their war-cry along the\nStraits of the St. Mary\u2019s, and at the foot of Lake Superior; at another,\nunder the walls of Quebec, where they finally defeated the Hurons under\nthe eyes of the French.\u201d[132] And after glancing at the long history of\ntheir triumphs, he adds: \u201cNations trembled when they heard the name of\nthe Konoshioni.\u201d\n\nIn older centuries, while the Huron-Iroquois still constituted one\nunited people in their ancestral home to the north of the St. Lawrence,\nthey must have been liable to contact with the Eskimo, both on the north\nand the east; and greatly as the two races differ, the dolichocephalic\ntype of head common to both is not only suggestive of possible\nintermixture, but also of encroachments on the Eskimo in early centuries\nby this aggressive race. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as\nprobably at a much earlier date, when the Iroquois had parted from the\nHurons, they became unquestionably _the_ aggressive race of the northern\ncontinent; and were an object of dread to widely severed nations. Their\nearliest foes were probably the Algonkins, whose original home appears\nto have been between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay. Nevertheless, there\nwas a time, according to the traditions of both, apparently in some old\npre-Columbian century, when Iroquois and Algonkins combined their forces\nagainst the long-extinct stock whose name survives in that of the\nAlleghany Mountains and river. But if so, their numbers must have then\nvastly exceeded that of their whole combined nations at any period\nsubsequent to their first intercourse with Europeans. For if the growing\nopinion is correct that the Allig\u00e9wi were the so-called \u201cMound-Builders\u201d\nof the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, they must have been a numerous\npeople, occupying a territory of great extent, and carrying on\nagriculture on a large scale. So far as metallurgy\u2014that crucial test of\ncivilisation,\u2014is concerned, they had not advanced beyond the stage of\nIroquois progress. Their pottery and ingenious carvings in stone have\nalready been noted, along with their singular geometrical earthworks\nwhich still puzzle the American arch\u00e6ologist, from the evidence they\nshow of skill in a people still practically in their Stone period. The\nonly conceivable solution of the mystery, as already suggested, seems to\nme the assumption of some \u201cDruidic\u201d or Brahminical caste, distinct from\nthe native Allig\u00e9wi stock, who ruled in those great northern\nriver-valleys, as in Peru; and, like the mythic Quetzalcoatl of the\nAztecs, taught them agriculture, and directed the construction of the\nmarvellous works to which they owe their later distinctive name. But for\nsome unknown reason they provoked the united fury of Iroquois and\nAlgonkins; and after long-protracted strife were driven out, if not\nwholly exterminated. A curious phase of incipient native civilisation\nthus perished; and, notwithstanding all the romance attached to the\nleague of the Iroquois, it is impossible to credit them at any stage of\ntheir own history with the achievement of such a progress in agriculture\nor primitive arts as we must ascribe to this ancient people of the Ohio\nvalley. To the triumph of the Iroquois in this long-protracted warfare\nmay have been due the haughty spirit which thenceforth demanded a\nrecognition of their supremacy from all surrounding nations. Their\npartial historians ascribe to them a spirit of magnanimity in the use of\ntheir power, and a mediatorial interposition among the weaker nations\nthat acknowledged their supremacy. They appear, indeed, to have again\nentered into alliance with an Algonkin nation. Their annalists have\ntransmitted the memory of a treaty effected with the Ojibways, when the\nlatter dwelt on the shores of Lake Superior; and the meeting-place of\nthe two powerful races was at the great fishing-ground of the Sault Ste.\nMarie rapids, within reach of the copper-bearing rocks of the Keweenaw\npeninsula. The league then established is believed to have been\nfaithfully maintained on both sides for upwards of two hundred years.\nBut if so, it had been displaced by bitter feud in the interval between\nthe visits of Cartier and Champlain to the St. Lawrence.\n\nThe historical significance given to the legend of Hiawatha by the\ncoherent narrative so ingeniously deduced by Mr. Horatio Hales from _The\nIroquois Book of Rites_, points to a long-past era of beneficent rule\nand social progress among the Huron-Iroquois. But the era is\npre-Columbian, if not mythic. The pipe of peace had been long\nextinguished, and the buried tomahawk recovered, when the early French\nexplorers were brought into contact with the Iroquois and Hurons. The\nhistory of their deeds, as recorded by the Jesuit Fathers from personal\nobservation, is replete with the relentless ferocity of the savage. War\nwas their pastime; and they were ever ready to welcome the call to arms.\nLa Salle came in contact with them on the discovery of the Illinois; and\nCaptain John Smith, the founder of Virginia, encountered their canoes on\nthe Chesapeake Bay bearing a band of Iroquois warriors to the\nterritories of the Powhattan confederacy. They were then, as ever, the\nsame fierce marauders, intolerant of equality with any neighbouring\ntribe. The Susquehannocks experienced at their hands the same fate as\nthe Allig\u00e9wi. The Lenapes, Shawnees, Nanticokes, Unamis, Delawares,\nMunsees, and Manhattans, were successively reduced to the condition of\ndependent tribes. Even the Canarse Indians of Long Island were not safe\nfrom their vengeance; and their power seems to have been dreaded\nthroughout the whole region from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.\n\nIt thus appears probable that in remote centuries, before the discovery\nof America by European voyagers, the region extending westward from the\nLabrador coast to Lake Ontario, if not, indeed, to Lake Huron, had been\nin occupation by those who claimed to be autochthones, and who were\nknown and feared far beyond their own frontiers. But though thus\nmaintaining a haughty predominancy; so far as their arts afford any\nevidence, they were in their infancy. The country occupied by them,\nexcept in so far as it was overgrown with the forest, was well adapted\nfor agriculture; and the Iroquois and Hurons alike compared favourably\nwith the Algonkins in their agricultural industry. A confirmatory\nevidence of exceptional superiority among this remarkable race is that\ntheir women were held in unwonted respect. They had their own\nrepresentatives in the council of the tribe; and exercised considerable\ninfluence in the choice of a chief. But on them devolved all domestic\nlabour, including the cultivation of their fields. This work was\nentirely carried on by the women, while the share of the men in the\njoint provision of food was the product of the chase. The beautiful\nregion was still so largely under forest that it must have afforded\nabundant resources for the hunter; but it furnished no facilities for\nthe inauguration of a copper or bronze age, such as the shores of Lake\nSuperior in vain offered to its Algonkin nomads. Of metallic ores they\nhad no knowledge; and while they doubtless prized the copper brought\noccasionally from Lake Superior, copper implements are rare in the\nregion which they occupied. Their old alliance with the Algonkins of the\ngreat copper region had long come to an end; and when brought under the\nnotice of the French and English colonists, the Algonkins had joined\nwith the Hurons as the implacable foes of the Iroquois confederacy.\n\nIn the ancient warfare in which Algonkins and Huron-Iroquois are found\nunited against the nation of the great river valleys, we see evidences\nof a conflict between widely distinct stocks of northern and southern\norigin. It is an antagonism between well-defined dolichocephalic and\nbrachycephalic races. In the dolichocephalic Iroquois or Huron, we have\nthe highest type of the forest savage; maintaining as his own the\nterritory of his fathers, and building palisaded towns for the secure\nshelter of his people. The brachycephalic Mound-Builder, on the other\nhand, may still survive in one or other of the members of the\nsemi-civilised village communities of New Mexico or Arizona. But if the\ninterpretation of native traditions have any value, they carry us back\nto pre-Columbian centuries, and tell of long-protracted strife, until\nwhat may at first have been no more than the aggressions of wild\nnorthern races, tempted by the resources of an industrious agricultural\ncommunity, became a war of extermination. The elaborately constructed\nforts of the Mound-Builders, no less abundant throughout the Ohio valley\nthan their curious geometrical earthworks, prove the dangers to which\nthey were exposed, no less than the skill and determination with which\nthe aggressors were withstood, it may be through successive generations,\nbefore their final overthrow.\n\nThe palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga, one of the chief urban centres\nof the Huron-Iroquois tribes in the older home of the race, and a sample\nof the later Huron defences on the Georgian Bay, stood, in the sixteenth\ncentury, at the foot of Mount Royal, whence the city of Montreal takes\nits name; and some of the typical skulls of its old occupants, as well\nas flint implements and pottery from its site, are now preserved in the\nMuseum of M\u2019Gill University. The latter relics reveal no more than had\nlong been familiar in the remains which abound within the area of the\nIroquois confederacy, and elsewhere throughout the eastern states of\nNorth America. Their earthenware vessels were decorated with\nherring-bone and other incised patterns; and their tobacco pipes and the\nhandles of their clay bowls were, at times, rudely modelled into human\nand animal forms. Their implements of flint and stone were equally rude.\nThey had inherited little more than the most infantile savage arts; and\nwhen those were at length superseded, in some degree, by implements and\nweapons of European manufacture, they prized the more effective weapons,\nbut manifested no desire for mastering the arts to which they were due.\nTo all appearance, through unnumbered centuries, the tide of human life\nhas ebbed and flowed in the valley of the St. Lawrence as\nunprogressively as on the great steppes of Asia. Such footprints as the\nwanderers have left on the sands of time tell only of the unchanging\nrecurrence of generations of men as years and centuries came and passed\naway. Illustrations of native art are now very familiar to us. The\nancient flint pits have been explored; and the flint cores and\nrough-hewn nodules recovered. The implements of war and the chase were\nthe work of the Indian brave. His spears and arrow heads, his knives,\nchisels, celts, and hammers, in flint and stone, abound. Fish-hooks,\nlances or spears, awls, bodkins, and other implements of bone and deer\u2019s\nhorn, are little less common. The highest efforts of artistic skill were\nexpended on the carving of his stone pipe, and fashioning the pipe-stem.\nThe pottery, the work of female hands, is usually in the simplest stage\nof coarse, handmade, fictile ware. The patterns, incised on the soft\nclay, are the conventional reproductions of the grass or straw-plaiting;\nor, at times, the actual impressions of the cordage or wicker-work by\nwhich the larger clay vessels were held in shape, to be dried in the sun\nbefore they were imperfectly burned in the primitive kiln. But the\npotter also indulged her fancy at times in modelling artistic devices of\nmen and animals, as the handles of the smaller ware, or the forms in\nwhich the clay tobacco pipe was wrought. Nevertheless the northern\ncontinent lingered to the last in its primitive stage of neolithic art;\nand its most northern were its rudest tribes, until we pass within the\nArctic circle and come in contact with the ingenious handiwork of the\nEskimo. Southward beyond the great lakes, and especially within the area\nof the Mound-Builders, a manifest improvement is noticeable. Alike in\ntheir stone carvings and their modelling in clay, the more artistic\ndesign and better finish of industrious settled communities are\napparent. Still further to the south, the diversified ingenuity of\nfancy, especially in the pottery, is suggestive of an influence derived\nfrom Mexican and Peruvian art. The carved work of some western tribes\nwas also of a higher character. But taking such work at its best, it\ncannot compare in skill or practical utility with the industrial arts of\nEurope\u2019s Neolithic age. This region has now been visited and explored by\nEuropeans for four centuries, during a large portion of which time they\nhave been permanent settlers. Its soil has been turned up over areas of\nsuch wide extent that the results may be accepted, with little\nhesitation, as illustrations of the arts and social life subsequent to\nthe occupation of the continent by its aboriginal races. But we look in\nvain for evidence of an extinct native civilisation. However far back\nthe presence of man in the New World may be traced, throughout the\nnorthern continent, at least, he seems never to have attained to any\nhigher stage than what is indicated by such evidences of settled\noccupation as were shown in the palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga; or\nat most, in the ancient settlements of the Ohio valley. Everywhere the\nagriculturist only disturbs the graves of the savage hunter. The\nearthworks of the Mound-Builders, and still more their configuration,\nare indeed suggestive of a people in a condition analogous to that of\nthe ancient populace of Egypt or Assyria, toiling under the direction of\nan overruling caste, and working out intellectual conceptions of which\nthey themselves were incapable. Yet, even in their case, this inference\nfinds no confirmation from the contents of their mounds or earthworks.\nThey disclose only implements of bone, flint, and stone, with some rare\nexamples of equally rude copper tools, hammered into shape without the\nuse of fire. Working in the metals appears to have been confined to the\nsouthern continent; or, at least, never to have found its way northward\nof the Mexican plateau. Nothing but the ingeniously sculptured tobacco\npipe, or the better-fashioned pottery, gives the slightest hint of\nprogress beyond the first infantile stage of the tool-maker.\n\nWhatever may have been the source of special skill among the old\nagricultural occupants of the Ohio valley, their Iroquois supplanters\nborrowed from them no artistic aptitude. No remains of its primitive\noccupants give the slightest hint that the aborigines of Canada, or of\nthe country immediately to the south of the St. Lawrence, derived any\nknowledge from the old race so curiously skilled in the construction of\ngeometrical earthworks. Any native burial mounds or embankments are on a\nsmall scale, betraying no more than the simplest operations of a people\nwhose tools were flint hoes, and horn or wooden picks and shovels.\nWherever evidence is found of true working in metals, as distinct from\nthe cold-hammered native copper, as in the iron tomahawk, the copper\nkettles, and silver crosses, recovered from time to time from Indian\ngraves, their European origin is indisputable. Small silver buckles, or\nbrooches, of native workmanship are indeed common in their graves; for a\nmetallic currency was so unintelligible to them that this was the use to\nwhich they most frequently turned French or English silver coinage.\n\nBut notwithstanding the general correspondence in arts, habits, and\nconditions of life, among the forest and prairie tribes of North\nAmerica, their distinctive classification into various dolichocephalic\nand brachycephalic types points to diversity of origin and a mingling of\nseveral races. So far as the native races of Canada are considered, it\nhas been shown that they belong to the dolichocephalic type. The\nAllig\u00e9wi, or Mound-Builders, on the contrary, appear to have been a\nstrongly marked brachycephalic race; and the bitter antagonism between\nthe two, which ended in the utter ruin of the latter, may have been\noriginally due to race distinctions such as have frequently been the\nsource of implacable strife.\n\nThe short globular head-form, which, in the famous Scioto-mound skull,\nis shown in a strongly marked typical example with the longitudinal and\nparietal diameters nearly equal, appears to have been common among the\nsouthern tribes, such as the Osages, Ottoes, Missouries, Shawnees,\nCherokees, Seminoles, Uchees, Savannahs, Catawbas, Yamasees, Creeks, and\nmany others. This seems to point to such a convergence, of two distinct\nethnical lines of migration from opposite centres, as is borne out by\nmuch other evidence. In noting this aspect of the question anew, the\nfurther significant fact may also be once more repeated, that the Eskimo\ncranium, along with certain specialties of its own, is pre-eminently\ndistinctive as the northern type.\n\nAmong what may be accepted as typical Canadian skulls, those recovered\nfrom the old site of Hochelaga, and from the Huron ossuaries around Lake\nSimcoe, have a special value. They represent the native race which,\nunder various names, extended from the Lower St. Lawrence westward to\nLake St. Clair. The people encountered by Cartier and the first French\nexplorers of 1535, and those whom Champlain found settled around the\nGeorgian Bay sixty-eight years later, appear to have been of the same\nstock. Such primitive local names, as Stadacon\u00e9 and Hochelaga, are not\nAlgonkin, but Huron-Iroquois. Native traditions, as well as the\nallusions of the earliest French writers, confirm this idea of the\noccupation by a Huron-Iroquois or Wyandot population of the \u201cregion\nnorth-eastward from the mouth of the St. Lawrence, at or somewhere along\nthe Gulf coast, before they ever met with the French, or any European\nadventurers,\u201d as reaffirmed in the narrative of their own native\nhistorian, Peter Dooyentate.[133] But whatever confirmation may be found\nfor this native tradition, it is certain that the European adventurers\nbore no part in their expulsion from their ancient home. The aborigines,\nwhom Jacques Cartier found a prosperous people, safe in the shelter of\ntheir palisaded towns, had all vanished before the return of the French\nunder Champlain; and they were found by him in new settlements, which\nthey had formed far to the westward on Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay.\n\nQuestions of considerable interest are involved in the consideration of\nthis migration of the Hurons; and the circumstances under which they\ndeserted their earlier home. They were visited by Champlain in 1615, and\nsubsequently by the missionary Fathers, who, in 1639, found them\noccupying thirty-two palisaded villages, fortified in the same fashion\nas those described by the first French explorers at Stadacon\u00e9 and\nHochelaga. Their numbers are variously estimated. Brebeuf reckoned them\nat 30,000; and described them as living together in towns sometimes of\nfifty, sixty, or a hundred dwellings,\u2014that is, of three or four hundred\nhouseholders,\u2014and diligently cultivating their fields, from which they\nderived food for the whole year. Whatever higher qualities distinguished\nthe Iroquois from Algonkin or other native races, were fully shared in\nby the Hurons; and they are even spoken of with a natural partiality by\ntheir French allies, like Sagard, as a patrician order of savages, in\ncomparison with those of the Five Nations. When first visited by French\nexplorers, after their protracted journey through the desolate forests\nbetween the Ottawa and Lake Huron, their palisaded towns and cultivated\nfields must have seemed like an oasis in the desert. \u201cTo the eye of\nChamplain,\u201d says Mr. Parkman, \u201caccustomed to the desolation he had left\nbehind, it seemed a land of beauty and abundance. There was a broad\nopening in the forest, fields of maize with pumpkins ripening in the\nsun, patches of sun-flowers, from the seeds of which the Indians made\nhair-oil, and in the midst the Huron town of Otouacha. In all essential\npoints it resembled that which Cartier, eighty years before, had seen at\nMontreal; the same triple palisade of crossed and intersecting trunks,\nand the same long lodges of bark, each containing many households. Here,\nwithin an area of sixty or seventy miles, was the seat of one of the\nmost remarkable savage communities of the continent.\u201d[134] The Hurons,\nthus settled in their latter home, consisted of several \u201cnations,\u201d\nincluding their kinsmen to the south, as far as Lake Erie and the\nNiagara river. They had their own tribal divisions, still perpetuated\namong their descendants. The Rev. Prosper Vincent Sa\u222b\u222batannen, a native\nHuron, and the first of his race admitted to the priesthood, informs me\nthat the Hurons of Lorette still perpetuate their ancient classification\ninto four _grandes compagnies_, each of which has its five tribal\ndivisions or clans, by which of old all intermarriage was regulated. The\nmembers of the same clan regarded themselves as brothers and sisters,\nand so were precluded from marriage with one another. The small number\nof the whole band at La Jeune Lorette renders the literal enforcement of\nthis rule impossible; but the children are still regarded as belonging\nto the mother\u2019s clan. The five clans into which each of the four\ncompanies is divided are:\u20141. The Deer, _Oskanonton_; 2. The Bear,\n_Anniolen_; 3. The Wolf, _Annenarisk\u222b\u222ba_; 4. The Tortoise, _Andia\u222b\u222bik_;\n5. The Beaver, _Tsotai_. There were two, if not more dialects spoken by\nthe old Hurons, or Wyandots; and that of Hochelaga probably varied from\nany form of the language now surviving. This has to be kept in view in\nestimating the value of the lists of words furnished by Jacques Cartier\nof \u201cle langage des pays et Royaulmes de Hochelaga et Canada, aultrement\nappell\u00e9e par nous la nouvelle France.\u201d\n\nOf the condition of the region to the west of the Ottawa prior to the\nseventeenth century nothing is known from direct observation. Before\nChamplain had an opportunity of visiting it, the whole region westward\nto Lake Huron had been depopulated and reduced to a desert. The fact\nthat the few natives found by Champlain occupying the once populous\nregion of the Hochelaga Indians were Algonkins, has been the chief\nground for the assumption that the expulsion of that old Wyandot stock\nwas due to their hostility. But such an idea is irreconcilable with the\nfact that the latter, instead of retreating southward to their\nHuron-Iroquois kinsmen, took refuge among Algonkin tribes. According to\nthe narrative of their own Wyandot historian, Peter Dooyentate,\ngathered, as he tells us, from traditions that lived in the memory of a\nfew among the older members of his tribe, the island of Montreal was\noccupied in the sixteenth century by Wyandots or Hurons, and Senecas,\nsojourning peaceably in separate villages. The tradition is vague which\ntraces the cause of their hostility to the wrath of a Seneca maiden, who\nhad been wronged by the object of her affections, and gave her hand to a\nyoung Wyandot warrior on the condition of his slaying the Seneca chief,\nto whose influence she ascribed the desertion of her former lover.\nWhatever probability may attach to this romance of the Indian lovers,\nthe tradition that the Hurons were driven from their ancient homes on\nthe St. Lawrence by their Seneca kinsmen is consistent with ascertained\nfacts, as well as with the later history of the Senecas, who are found\nplaying the same part to the Eries under a somewhat similar incentive to\nrevenge, and appear to have taken the lead in the destruction of the\nAttiwendaronks. The native tradition is of value in so far as it shows\nthat the fatal enmity of the Iroquois to the Hurons was not originally\ndue to the alliance of the latter with the French; but Senecas and\nHurons had alike disappeared before Champlain visited the scene of\nCartier\u2019s earlier exploration. The Attiwendaronks, who dwelt to the\nsouth of the later home of the Hurons, on the shores of Lakes Ontario\nand Erie, may have formed another of the nations of the Wyandot stock\nexpelled from the valley of the St. Lawrence. Situated as they were in\ntheir later home, midway between the Hurons and Iroquois, they strove in\nvain to maintain a friendly neutrality. Charlevoix assigns the year 1635\nas the date of their destruction by the latter. Certain it is that\nbetween that date and the middle of the century their towns were utterly\ndestroyed; and such of the survivors as lingered in the vicinity were\nincorporated into the nation of the Senecas, who lay nearest to them.\n\nThe Eries were another Huron-Iroquois nation who appear to have\npersistently held aloof from the league. They were seemingly a fiercer\nand more warlike people than the Attiwendaronks; they fought with\npoisoned arrows, and were esteemed or dreaded as warriors. Their numbers\nmust have been considerable, since they were an object of apprehension\nto the nations of the league whose western frontiers marched with their\nown. They are affirmed by the native historian, Cusick, to have sprung\nfrom the Senecas; but, if so, their separation was probably of remote\ndate, as they were both numerous and powerful. The country which they\noccupied was noted among the French _coureurs des bois_ for its lynx\nfurs; and they gave accordingly to its people the name of \u201cLa Nation du\nChat.\u201d Their ancient home is still indicated in the name of the great\nlake beside which they dwelt. But, for some unknown reason, they refused\nall alliance with the Senecas and the league of their Iroquois kin, and\nperished by their violence within seven years after the Huron country\nwas laid waste. \u201cTo the Eries, and to the Neuter nation,\u201d or\nAttiwendaronks, says Schoolcraft, \u201caccording to tradition, the Iroquois\noffered the alternative of admission into the league or extermination;\nand the strangeness of this proposition will disappear, when it is\nremembered that an Indian nation regards itself as at war with all\nothers not in actual alliance.\u201d[135] Peace, he adds, was the ultimate\naim of the founders of the Iroquois oligarchy; and, for lovers of peace\non such terms of supremacy, the _casus belli_ would not be more\ndifficult to find than it has proved to be among the most Christian of\nkings. In the case of the Eries, as of the elder Wyandots of Hochelaga,\nthe final rupture is ascribed to a woman\u2019s implacable wrath.\n\nFather Le Moyne, while on a mission to the Onondagas in 1654, learned\nthat the Iroquois confederacy were excited to fury against the Eries. A\ncaptive Onondaga chief is said to have been burnt at the stake after he\nhad been offered, according to Indian custom, to one of the Erie women,\nto take the place of her brother who had been murdered while on a visit\nto the Senecas. It is a characteristic illustration of how the feuds of\nages were perpetuated. The traditions of the Iroquois preserved little\nmore than the fact that the Eries had perished by their fury. But a\nstory told to Mr. Parkman by a Cayuga Indian, only too aptly illustrates\nthe hideous ferocity of their assailants. It represented that the night\nafter the great battle in which the Eries suffered their final defeat,\nthe forest was lighted up with more than a thousand fires, at each of\nwhich an Erie was being tortured at the stake.[136] The number is\nprobably exaggerated. But it is only thus, as it were in the lurid glare\nof its torturing fires, that we catch a glimpse of this old nation as it\nvanished from the scene. Of the survivors, the greater number were\nadopted, according to Indian fashion, into the Seneca nation.\n\nSome of the earthworks met with to the south of Lake Erie show proofs of\ngreater constructive labour than anything found in Canada. Still more\ninteresting are the primitive hieroglyphics of an inscription on\nCunningham\u2019s Island, ascribed to the Eries, and which Schoolcraft\ndescribes as by far the most elaborate work of its class hitherto found\non the continent.[137] But the rock inscription, though highly\ninteresting as an example of native symbolism and pictographic writing,\nthrows no light on the history of its carvers; and of their language no\nmemorial is recoverable, for they had ceased to exist before the great\nlake which perpetuates their name was known to the French.\n\nMore accurate information has been preserved in reference to the Hurons,\namong whom the Jesuit Fathers laboured with self-denying zeal, from time\nto time reporting the results in their _Relations_ to the Provincial of\nthe Order at Paris. One of the most characteristic religious ceremonies\nof the Hurons was the great \u201cFeast of the Dead,\u201d celebrated apparently\nat intervals of twelve years, when the remains of their dead were\ngathered from scaffolded biers, or remote graves, and deposited amid\ngeneral mourning in the great cemetery of the tribe. Valuable robes and\nfurs, pottery, copper kettles and others of their choicest possessions,\nincluding the pyrul\u00e6, or large tropical shells brought from the Gulf of\nMexico, with wampum, prized implements, and personal ornaments, were all\nthrown into the great trench, which was then solemnly covered over. By\nthe exploration of those Huron ossuaries, the sites of the palisaded\nvillages of the Hurons of the seventeenth century have been identified\nin recent years; and there are now preserved in the Laval University at\nQuebec upwards of eighty skulls recovered from cemeteries at St. Ignace,\nSt. Joachin, Ste. Marie, St. Michael, and other villages, the scenes of\nself-denying labour, and in some cases of the cruel torturings, of the\nFrench missionaries by whom they were thus designated. Other examples of\nskulls from the same ossuaries, I may add, are now in the Museums of the\nUniversity of Toronto, the London Anthropological Society, and the\nJardin des Plantes at Paris. The skulls recovered from those ossuaries\nhave a special value from the fact that the last survivors were driven\nout of the country by their Iroquois foes in 1649; and hence the crania\nrecovered from them may be relied upon as fairly illustrating the\nphysical characteristics of the race before they had been affected by\nintercourse with Europeans. The Huron skull is of a well-defined\ndolichocephalic type, with, in many cases, an unusual prominence of the\noccipital region; the parietal bones meet more or less at an angle at\nthe sagittal suture; the forehead is flat and receding; the superciliary\nridges in the male skulls are strongly developed; the malar bones are\nbroad and flat, and the profile is orthognathic. Careful measurements of\nthirty-nine male skulls yield a mean longitudinal diameter of 7.39 to a\nparietal diameter of 5.50; and of eighteen female skulls, a longitudinal\ndiameter of 7.07 to a parietal diameter of 5.22.[138]\n\nWho were the people found by Cartier in 1535, seemingly long-settled and\nprosperous, occupying the fortified towns of Stadacon\u00e9 and Hochelaga,\nand lower points on the St. Lawrence? The question is not without a\nspecial interest to Canadians. According to the native Wyandot\nhistorian, they were Wyandots or Hurons, and Senecas. That they were\nHuron-Iroquois, at any rate, and not Algonkins, is readily determined.\nWe owe to Cartier two brief vocabularies of their language, which,\nthough obscured probably in their original transcription, and corrupted\nby false transliterations in their transference to the press, leave no\ndoubt that the people spoke a Huron-Iroquois dialect. To which of the\ndivisions it belonged is not so obvious. The languages, in the various\ndialects, differ only slightly in most of the words which Cartier gives.\nSometimes they agree with Huron, and sometimes with Iroquois\nequivalents. The name of Hochelaga, \u201cat the beaver-dam,\u201d is Huron, and\nthe agreement as a whole preponderates in favour of a Huron rather than\nan Iroquois dialect. But there was probably less difference between the\ntwo then, than at the more recent dates of their comparison. In dealing\nwith this important branch of philological evidence, I have been\nindebted to the kindness of my friend, Mr. Horatio Hale, for a\ncomparative analysis of the vocabulary supplied by Cartier, embodying\nthe results of long and careful study. He has familiarised himself with\nthe Huron language by personal intercourse with members of a little band\nof civilised Wyandots, settled on their reserve at Anderdon, in Western\nOntario. The language thus preserved by them, after long separation from\nother members of the widely scattered race, probably presents the\nnearest approximation to the original forms of the native tongue, as\nspoken on the Island of Montreal and the lower St. Lawrence. In\ncomparing them allowance has to be made for varieties of dialect among\nthe old occupants of the lower valley of the St. Lawrence, and also for\nthe changes wrought on the Huron language in the lapse of three and a\nhalf centuries, not simply by time, but also as the result of\nintercourse and intermixture with other peoples. The habit of recruiting\ntheir numbers by the adoption of prisoners and broken tribes could not\nfail to exercise some influence on the common tongue. The _k_ or hard\n_g_ of Cartier is, in the Wyandot, frequently softened to a _y_; and on\nthe other hand, the _n_ is strengthened by a _d_ sound, as in Cartier\u2019s\npregnant term _Canada_, the old Hochelaga word for a town, which has\nbecome in the Wyandot _Yandata_; and so in other instances.\n\nThe revolution which, at the critical period of the advent of the Trench\nin the valley of the St. Lawrence, in the interval of sixty-eight years\nbetween the visits of Cartier and Champlain, displaced the fortified and\npopulous Indian capital of Hochelaga and left the surrounding regions a\ndesolate wilderness, is a mysterious event. Had Champlain been curious\nto learn the facts of an occurrence then so recent there could have been\nlittle difficulty in recovering the history of the exodus of the\nHochelagans. But it had no interest for the French adventurers of that\nday. The well-fortified Wyandot towns had given place to a few ephemeral\nbirch-bark wigwams belonging to another race; and the readiest solution\nof the mystery has been to ascribe the expulsion of the Wyandots, or\nHurons, from their ancient home in Eastern Canada, to the Algonkins.\nThis, as already shown, is irreconcilable with the fact that Champlain\nfound them in friendly alliance with the latter against their common\nfoe, the Iroquois. If, however, the Wyandot tradition of the expulsion\nof the Hurons from the island of Montreal by the Senecas be accepted, it\nis in no degree inconsistent with the circumstances subsequently\nreported by Champlain; but rather serves to account for some of them, if\nit is assumed that the Senecas were, in their turn, driven out by the\nAlgonkins, and then finally withdrew beyond the St. Lawrence.\n\nBut there is another kind of evidence bearing on the question of the\naffinities of the people first met with by Cartier in 1535, which also\nhas its value here. The descriptions of the palisaded towns of the\nHurons on the Georgian Bay very accurately reproduce that which Cartier\ngives of Hochelaga. Ephemeral as such fortifications necessarily were,\nthe construction of a rampart formed of a triple row of trunks of trees,\nsurmounted with galleries, from whence to hurl stones and other missiles\non their assailants, was a formidable undertaking for builders provided\nwith no better tools than stone hatchets, and with no other means of\ntransport than their united labour supplied. But the design had the\nadvantage of furnishing a self-supporting wall, and so of saving the\ngreater labour of digging a trench, with such inadequate tools, in soil\npenetrated everywhere with the roots of forest trees. It was the\nHuron-Iroquois system of military engineering, in which they contrasted\nfavourably with the Algonkins, among whom the absence of such evidence\nof settled habits as those secure defences supplied, was characteristic\nof these ruder nomads. But such urban fortifications no less strikingly\ncontrast with the elaborate and enduring military earthworks to the\nsouth of the great lakes. The pottery and implements found on the site\nof Hochelaga are of the same character as many examples recovered from\nthe Huron ossuaries. On the other hand the peculiar rites, of which\nthose ossuaries are the enduring memorials, appear to have distinguished\nthe western Hurons from the older settlers on the St. Lawrence. The\ngreat Feast of the Dead, with its recurrent solemnities, when after the\nlapse of years the remains of their dead were exhumed, or removed from\ntheir scaffold biers, was the most characteristic religious ceremonial\nof the Hurons; and was practised with still more revolting rites by the\nkindred Attiwendaronks. Festering dead bodies were kept in their\ndwellings, preparatory to scraping the flesh from their bones; and the\ndecaying remains of recently buried corpses were exhumed for reinterment\nin the great trench, which was prepared with enormous labour, and\nfurnished with the most lavish expenditure of prized furs, wampum, and\nother possessions.\n\nIn all ages and states of society unavailing sorrow has tempted the\nsurvivors to extravagant excesses in the effort to do honour to the\nloved dead; and sumptuary laws have been repeatedly enacted to restrain\nsuch demonstrations within reasonable bounds. _The Book of Rites_\nsuffices to suggest that the ancient funeral rites of the Iroquois were\nof the same revolting and wasteful character, until their mythic\nreformer, Hiawatha, superseded them with a simpler symbolical funeral\nservice. \u201cI have spoken of the solemn event which has befallen you,\u201d are\nthe introductory words to the thirteenth paragraph of \u201cThe Condoling\nCouncil,\u201d and it thus proceeds: \u201cEvery day you are losing your great\nmen. They are being borne into the earth; also the warriors, and also\nyour women, and also your grandchildren; so that in the midst of blood\nyou are sitting.\u201d It is therefore enacted, in the twenty-seventh\nparagraph, evidently in lieu of older practices: \u201cThis shall be done. We\nwill suspend a pouch upon a pole, and will place in it some mourning\nwampum, some short strings, to be taken to the place where the loss was\nsuffered. The bearer will enter, and will stand by the hearth, and will\nspeak a few words to comfort those who will be mourning; and then they\nwill be comforted, and will conform to the great law.\u201d\n\nA string of black wampum sent round the settlement is still, among the\nIndians of the Six Nations, the notice of the death of a chief, as a\nbelt of black wampum was a declaration of war. It seems not improbable\nthat the people of Stadacon\u00e9 and Hochelaga had submitted to the wise\nsocial and religious reforms by which the ancient rites of their dead\nwere superseded by the symbolism of the mourning wampum, and hence the\nabsence of ossuaries throughout the island of Montreal and the whole\nregion to the east. But when the fugitive Wyandots fled into the\nwilderness, and reared new homes around Lake Simcoe and in the western\npeninsula, they may have revived traditional usages of their fathers,\nand resumed rites which had been reluctantly abandoned. Among the\ncivilised Indians of the Six Nations some memorials of their ancestral\nrites of the dead still survive. A visitor to the reserve at the time of\nthe death of a late highly esteemed chief told me that on the event\nbeing known it was immediately responded to by all within hearing by the\nprolonged utterance, in a mournful tone, of the cry _Kw\u00e9_, and this,\npassing from station to station, spread the news of their loss\nthroughout the reserve. Nearly the same sound, uttered in a quicker\nnote, _Quaig!_ is the salutation among the Hurons of Lorette.\n\nThe later history of the Hurons and Iroquois is not without its special\ninterest. One little band, the Hurons of Lorette, the representatives of\nthe refugees from the massacre of 1648, has lingered till our own day in\ntoo close proximity to the French _habitants_ of Quebec to preserve in\npurity the blood of the old race. But great as are the alterations which\ntime and intermixture with the white race have effected, they still\nretain many intellectual as well as physical traits of their original\nstock after an interval of two hundred and thirty-six years, during\nwhich intimate intercourse, and latterly frequent intermarriage with\nthose of European blood, have wrought inevitable change on the\nrace.[139] Other more vigorous representatives of the old Huron stock\noccupy a small reservation in the Township of Anderdon, in Western\nOntario, from whom the vocabulary was derived which furnished a test of\nthe language of the Hochelagans in the sixteenth century. But the Hurons\nof Lorette have also preserved their native tongue; and an ample\nvocabulary[140] of the older form of their language survives. A third\nmodification of the ancient tongue no doubt exists; for the larger\nremnant of the survivors of the Hurons, after repeated wanderings, is\nnow settled, far from the native home of the race, on reserves conceded\nto them by the American Government in Kansas.\n\nThe Hurons have thus, for the most part, disappeared from Canada; but it\nis not without interest to note that the revolution which, upwards of a\ncentury ago, severed the connection of the old colonies to the south of\nthe St. Lawrence with the region to the north, restored to Canada its\nancient Iroquois. This race of savage warriors acquired the mastery of a\nregion equal in extent to Central Europe; and by a system of warfare,\nnot, after all, more inherently barbarous or recklessly bloody than that\nof Europe\u2019s Grand Monarch, reconstructed the social and political map of\nthe continent east of the Mississippi. Their influence acquired a novel\nimportance when, in the seemingly insignificant rivalries of French and\nEnglish fur-traders, they practically determined the balance of power\nbetween the two foremost nations of Europe on this continent. Their\nindomitable pertinacity proved more than a match alike for European\ndiplomacy and military skill; and, as they maintained an uncompromising\nhostility to the French at a time when the rival colonists were nearly\nequally balanced, the failure of the magnificent schemes of Louis XIV.\nand his successors to establish in North America such a supremacy as\nCharles V. and Philip II. had held in Mexico and Peru, is largely\ntraceable to them. It is natural that the Anglo-American student of\nhistory should estimate highly the polity of savage warriors who thus\nfoiled the schemes of one of the most powerful monarchies of Europe for\nthe mastery of this continent. The late Hon. L. H. Morgan thus writes of\nthem: \u201cThey achieved for themselves a more remarkable civil\norganisation, and acquired a higher degree of influence, than any other\nrace of Indian lineage except those of Mexico and Peru. In the drama of\nEuropean colonisation they stood, for nearly two centuries, with an\nunshaken front against the devastations of war, the blighting influence\nof foreign intercourse, and the still more fatal encroachments of a\nrestless and advancing border population. Under their federal system the\nIroquois flourished in independence, and capable of self-protection,\nlong after the New England and Virginia races had surrendered their\njurisdictions, and fallen into the condition of dependent nations; and\nthey now stand forth upon the canvas of Indian history, prominent alike\nfor the wisdom of their civil institutions, their sagacity in the\nadministration of the league, and their courage in its defence.\u201d[141]\nBut in this their historian applies to the Iroquois a European standard,\nsimilar to that by which Prescott unconsciously magnified Mexican\nbarbarism into a rivalry with the contemporary civilisation of Spain.\nThe romance attached to the Hodenosauneega, or Kononsionni, the famous\nleague of the Long House or United Households, more truly derives its\nchief interest and value from the fact that its originators remained to\nthe last savages. It is, at any rate, important to keep this fact in\nview, and to interpret the significance of the league in that light.\nWhen the treaty which initiated it was entered into by the Caniengas and\nthe Oneidas, they were both in that primitive stage of unsophisticated\nbarbarism to which the term \u201cStone Period\u201d has been applied. In the\nabsence of all knowledge of metallurgy, their implements and weapons\nwere alike simple and rude. Agriculture, under such conditions, must\nhave been equally primitive; and as for their wars, when they were not\ndefensive, they appear to have had no higher aim than revenge. Gallatin,\nno unappreciative witness, says of them: \u201cThe history of the Five\nNations is calculated to give a favourable opinion of the intelligence\nof the Red Man. But they may be ranked among the worst of conquerors.\nThey conquered only in order to destroy, and, it would seem, solely for\nthe purpose of gratifying their thirst for blood. Towards the south and\nthe west they made a perfect desert of the whole country within 500\nmiles of their seats. A much greater number of those Indians, who since\nthe commencement of the seventeenth century have perished by the sword\nin Canada and the United States, have been destroyed by that single\nnation than in all their wars with the Europeans.\u201d[142]\n\nTo characterise the combination effected among such tribes as one\npresenting elements of wise civil institutions; or indeed to introduce\nsuch terms as league and federal system, in the sense in which they have\nbeen repeatedly employed, as though they referred to a confederation\nakin to those of the ancient Ach\u00e6ans or \u00c6tolians, is to suggest\nassociations altogether misleading. Though an interesting phase of\nAmerican savage life, to which its long duration gives a marked\nsignificance, the Iroquois league was by no means unique; though it was\nthe oldest, and may have been the model on which others were framed. The\nCreek confederacy embraced numerous tribes between the Mobile, Alabama,\nand Savannah rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico. At the head of it were the\nMuskhogees, a numerous and powerful, but wholly savage race of hunters.\nLike the Oneidas, Onandagas, and the still older Wyandots, they and the\nChoctaws claimed to be autochthones. The Muskhogees appealed to a\ntradition of their ancestors that they issued from a cave near the\nAlabama river; while the Choctaws pointed to the frontier region between\nthem and the Chickasaws, where, as they affirmed, they suddenly emerged\nfrom a hole in the earth, a numerous and mighty people. The system of\ngovernment amongst the members of this southern confederacy seems to\nhave borne considerable resemblance to that of the Iroquois; if it was\nnot borrowed from it. Every village was the centre of an independent\ntribe or nation, with its own chief; and the restraints imposed on the\nindividual members, except when co-operating in some special enterprise\nor religious ceremonial, appear to have been slight.\n\nMr. Hale has shown that the language of the Cherokees has a grammar\nmainly Huron-Iroquois, and a vocabulary largely recruited from some\nforeign source. From this he infers that one portion of the conquered\nAllig\u00e9wi, while the conflict still lasted, may have cast in their lot\nwith the conquering race, just as the Tlascalans did with the Spaniards\nin their war against the Aztecs, and hence the origin of the great\nCherokee nation. The fugitive Allig\u00e9wi, he surmises, may have fled down\nthe Mississippi till they reached the country of the Choctaws,\nthemselves a mound-building people; and to the alliance of the two he\nwould thus trace the difference in the language of the latter from that\nof their eastern kindred, the Creeks or Muskhogees.[143] On the\nassumption of such a combination of ethnical elements, the origin of the\nCreek confederacy is easily accounted for. It is to this same element of\nlanguage that we have to revert for guidance in the interpretation of\nthe history of this remarkable race. It would be an evasion of the most\nessential evidence on which any reliable conclusions must be based, if\nthe fact were overlooked that the Iroquois never emerged beyond the\nprimitive stage of the Stone period. Nevertheless in one element of\nintellectual development their progress had been great. Each nation of\nthe Iroquois league had its chief, to whom pertained the right of\nkindling the symbolic council-fire, and of taking the lead in all public\nassemblies. When the representative chiefs of the nations gathered in\nthe Long House around the common council-fire of the league, it was no\nless necessary that they should be able and persuasive speakers than\nbrave warriors. Rhetoric was cultivated in the council-house of the\nIroquois no less earnestly than in the Athenian ekklesia or the Roman\nforum. Acute reasoning and persuasive eloquence demanded all the\ndiscriminating refinements of grammar, and the choice of terms which an\nample vocabulary supplies. The holophrastic element has been noted as a\npeculiar characteristic of American languages. The word-sentences thus\nconstructed not only admitted of, but encouraged, an elaborate nicety of\ndiscrimination; while the marked tendency of the process, so far as the\nlanguage itself is concerned, was to absorb all other parts in the verb.\nTime, place, manner, aim, purpose, degree, and all the other\nmodifications of language are combined polysynthetically with the root.\nNouns are to a large extent verbal forms; and not only nouns and\nadjectives, but adverbs and prepositions, are regularly conjugated.\nElaborated polysyllables, flexibly modified by systematic internal\nchanges, give expression, in one compounded word-sentence, to every\nvarying phase of intricate reasoning or emotion; and the complex\nstructure shows the growth of a language in habitual use for higher\npurposes than the mere daily wants of life. The vocabulary in use in\nsome rural districts in England has been found to include less than\nthree hundred words; and in provincial dialects, thus restricted, the\nrefinements of grammatical expression disappear. Among such rustic\ncommunities speech plays a very subordinate part in the business of\nlife. But upon the deliberations of the Indian council-house depended\nthe whole action of the confederacy. Hence, while in all else the\nIroquois remained an untutored savage, his language is a marvellously\nsystematised and beautiful structure, well adapted to the requirements\nof intricate reasoning and persuasive subtlety.\n\nProfessor Whitney says, in reference to American languages generally,\nwhat may more especially be applied to the Huron-Iroquois: \u201cThere are\ninfinite possibilities of expressiveness in such a structure; and it\nwould only need that some native American Greek race should arise, to\nfill it full of thought and fancy, and put it to the uses of a noble\nliterature, and it would be rightly admired as rich and flexible,\nperhaps beyond anything else that the world knew.\u201d[144] Yet, on the\nother hand, the Iroquois dispense with the whole labials, never\narticulate with their lips, and throw entirely aside from their\nalphabetical series of phonetics six of those most constantly in use by\nus.\n\nIn this direction, then, lies an ethnological problem which cannot fail\nto awaken ever-increasing interest. To the native languages of the New\nWorld we must look for a true key to the solution of some of the most\ncurious and difficult questions involved in the peopling of the\ncontinent. \u201cThere lies before us,\u201d says Professor Whitney, \u201ca vast and\ncomplicated problem in the American races; and it is their language that\nmust do by far the greatest part of the work in solving it.\u201d\n\nOf the languages of the Huron-Iroquois, the Huron appears to be the\noldest, if not the parent stock. When this aggressive race had spread,\nas conquerors, far to the south of the St. Lawrence, the mother nation\nappears to have held on to the cradleland of the race, where its\nrepresentatives were found still in possession when the first European\nexplorers entered the St. Lawrence. Colonists, of French or English\norigin, have been in more or less intimate intercourse with them ever\nsince, yet the materials for any satisfactory study of the Huron\nlanguage, or of a comparison between it and the various Iroquois\ndialects, are still scanty and very inadequate. The languages of the\nFive Nations that originally constituted the members of the Iroquois\nleague, are, in the strictest sense of the term, dialects. In their\ncouncil-house on the Grand river, the chiefs of the Mohawks, Oneidas,\nOnandagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, speak each in their own language and\nneed no interpreter. Nevertheless, the differences are considerable; and\na Seneca would scarcely find the language of a Mohawk intelligible to\nhim in ordinary conversation. But the separation of the Tuscaroras from\nthe Iroquois on the Mohawk river had been of long duration, and their\nlanguage differs much more widely from the others.\n\nThe Mohawk language was adopted at an early date for communicating with\nthe Indians of the Six Nations. The New England Company, established in\n1649, under favour of the Lord Protector, Cromwell, \u201cfor the propagation\nof the Gospel in New England,\u201d was revived on the restoration of Charles\nII. under a royal charter; and with the eminent philosopher, Robert\nBoyle, as its first governor, vigorous steps were taken for the\nreligious instruction of the Indians. The correspondence of Eliot, \u201cthe\nApostle of the Indians,\u201d with the first governor of the Company, is\nmarked by their anxiety for the completion of the Massachusetts Bible,\nwhich, along with other books, he had translated for the benefit of the\nIndians of New England. The silver Communion Service, still preserved at\nthe reserve on the Grand river, presented to the ancestors of the Mohawk\nnation by Queen Anne, is an interesting memorial of the early efforts\nfor their Christianisation. It bears the inscription: \u201cA. R., 1711.\n=The Gift of Her Majesty, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain,\nFrance, and Ireland, and of her Plantations in North America, Queen: to\nher Indian Chappel of the Mohawks.=\u201d The date has a special\ninterest in evidence of the transforming influences already at work; for\nit was not till three years later that the Tuscaroras were received into\nthe confederation, and the Iroquois became known by their later\nappellation as the Six Nation Indians. In accordance with the efforts\nindicated by the royal gift, repeated steps were taken for translating\nthe Scriptures and the Prayer-Book into their language. In a letter of\nthe Rev. Dr. Stuart, missionary to the Six Nations, dated 1771, he\ndescribes his introduction to Captain Brant at the Mohawk village of\nCanajoharie, and the aid received from him in revising the Indian\nPrayer-Book, and in translating the Gospel of St. Mark and the Acts of\nthe Apostles into the Mohawk language. The breaking out of the\nrevolutionary war arrested the printing of these translations. The\nmanuscripts were brought to Canada in 1781, and placed in the hands of\nColonel Clause, the Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This\ngentleman subsequently carried them to England, where they were at\nlength printed. A more recent edition of the Mohawk Prayer-Book,\nprepared under the direction of the Rev. Abraham Nelles, a missionary of\nthe New England Company, with the aid of a native catechist, issued from\nthe Canadian press in 1842. The Indian text is accompanied with its\nEnglish equivalent on the opposite page, and this _Kaghyadouhsera ne\nYoedereanayeadagwha_, or Book of Common Prayer, is still in use in the\nreligious services of the Six Nation Indians at their settlement on the\nGrand river.\n\nSome characteristics of the language, such as the absence of labials,\nconstitute not only a distinctive difference from the old Huron speech,\nbut afford proof of the latter being the older form. \u201cIt is a fact,\u201d\nsays Professor Max M\u00fcller, in referring to his intercourse with an\nintelligent native Mohawk, then a student at Oxford, \u201cthat the Mohawks\nnever, either as infants or as grown-up people, articulate with their\nlips. They have no _p_, _b_, _m_, _f_, _v_, _w_\u2014no labials of any\nkind.\u201d[145] The statement, so far as the Mohawk infants are concerned,\nis open to further inquiry; but Dr. Oronhyatekha, the Mohawk referred\nto, who pursued his studies for a time in the University of Toronto, and\nto whom I have been largely indebted in this and other researches in\nIndian philology, not only rejects the six letters already named, but\nalso _c_, _g_, _l_, _z_. The alphabet is thus reduced to seventeen\nletters. Professor Max M\u00fcller notes in passing, that the name \u201cMohawk\u201d\nwould seem to prove the use of the labial. But it is of foreign origin,\nthough possibly derived from their own term: _oegwehokough_, \u201cpeople.\u201d\nThe name employed by themselves is \u201cCanienga.\u201d The practice of speaking\nwithout ever closing the lips is an acquired habit of later origin than\nthe forms of the parent tongue. A comparison of any of the Iroquois\ndialects with the Huron as still spoken by the Wyandots of Ontario,\nshows the _m_ in use by the latter in what is no doubt a surviving\nexample of the oldest form of the Huron-Iroquois language. This Huron\n_m_ frequently becomes _w_ in the Iroquois dialects, _e.g._\n_skatamendjaweh_, \u201cone hundred,\u201d becomes in Mohawk _unskadewennyaweh_;\n_rume_, \u201cman,\u201d Mohawk, _ronkwe_, etc. These and other examples of this\ninterchangeable characteristic of Indian phonology, and the process of\nsubstitution in the absence of labials, are illustrated in the table of\nHuron-Iroquois numerals on the following page. The habit of invariably\nspeaking with the lips open is the source of very curious modifications\nin the Iroquois vocabularies when compared with that of the Wyandots.\nThe _m_ gives place to _w_, _nw_, _nh_, or _nhu_; also to _ku_ and\n_nkw_, and so frequently changes the whole character of the word by the\nmodifications it gives rise to.\n\nA comparison of the numerals of cognate languages and dialects is always\ninstructive; and with the growing disposition of American philologists\nto turn to the Basques, as the only prehistoric race of Europe that has\nperpetuated the language of an Allophylian stock with possible analogies\nto the native languages of America, their numerals may be placed\nalongside of those of the Huron-Iroquois. The permanency of the names\nfor numerals, and their freedom from displacement by synonyms,\n\n                     COMPARATIVE TABLE OF NUMERALS.\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n    \u2502          \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n    \u2502HOCHELAGA.\u2502      HURON.      \u2502                     \u2502\n    \u2502(Cartier.)\u2502    (Lorette.)    \u2502      WYANDOT.       \u2502     MOHAWK.\n    \u2502          \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n    \u2502          \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n   1\u2502segada}   \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n    \u2502secata}   \u2502sk\u0101t              \u2502scat                 \u2502unska\n   2\u2502tigneny}  \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n    \u2502tignem }  \u2502tendi             \u2502tendee               \u2502dekenih\n   3\u2502asche     \u2502chin              \u2502shaight              \u2502ahsunh\n   4\u2502honnacon  \u2502ndak              \u2502andaght              \u2502kayerih\n   5\u2502ouiscon   \u2502wisch             \u2502weeish               \u2502wisk\n   6\u2502indahir   \u2502wahia             \u2502waushau              \u2502yayak\n   7\u2502ayaga     \u2502tsotar\u00e9           \u2502sootaie              \u2502jadah\n   8\u2502adigue    \u2502ater\u00e9             \u2502autarai              \u2502sadekonh\n   9\u2502madellon  \u2502entson            \u2502aintru               \u2502tyodonh\n  10\u2502assem     \u2502asen              \u2502aughsagh             \u2502oyerih\n  11\u2502   ...    \u2502asenskatiskar\u00e9    \u2502assan escate escarhet\u2502unskayawenreh\n  12\u2502   ...    \u2502asentenditiskar\u00e9  \u2502asanteni escarhet    \u2502dekenihyawenreh\n  13\u2502   ...    \u2502\u0101senachinskar\u00e9    \u2502     ...             \u2502ahsunhyawenreh\n  14\u2502   ...    \u2502asendakskar\u00e9      \u2502     ...             \u2502kayerihyawenreh\n  15\u2502   ...    \u2502asenwischskar\u00e9    \u2502     ...             \u2502wiskyawenreh\n  16\u2502   ...    \u2502asenwahiaskar\u00e9    \u2502     ...             \u2502yayakyawenreh\n  17\u2502   ...    \u2502asentsotar\u00e9skar\u00e9  \u2502     ...             \u2502jadahyawenreh\n  18\u2502   ...    \u2502asenater\u00e9skar\u00e9    \u2502     ...             \u2502sadekonhyawenreh\n  19\u2502   ...    \u2502asenentsonskar\u00e9   \u2502     ...             \u2502tyodonhyawenreh\n  20\u2502   ...    \u2502tendi eouasen     \u2502tendeitawaughsa      \u2502dewasunh\n  30\u2502   ...    \u2502achink iouasen    \u2502     ...             \u2502ahsunhniwasunh\n 100\u2502   ...    \u2502enniot iouasen    \u2502scutemaingarwe       \u2502unskadewennyaweh\n1000\u2502   ...    \u2502asenate ouendiar\u00e9 \u2502assen attenoignauoy  \u2502oyerih-\n    \u2502          \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502  nadewennyaweh\n    \u2502          \u2502                  \u2502                     \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nare seen in the universality of one series of names throughout the whole\nancient and modern Aryan languages of Asia and Europe. But the Basque\nnumerals bear little or no resemblance to either, unless such can be\ntraced in the _bi_, \u201ctwo,\u201d and the _sei_, \u201csix,\u201d as in the _assem_,\n\u201cten\u201d (_decem_), of the old Hochelaga, the _ahsen_ of the later\nWyandots. The _ehun_ of the Basque has also its remote, and probably\naccidental resemblance; but the _milla_, \u201cone thousand,\u201d is certainly\nborrowed, and serves to show that the higher numerals, with the evidence\nthey afford of advancing civilisation, were the result of intrusive\nAryan influences in the natives of the Iberian peninsula. With the\ngrowing tendency to turn to the prehistoric Iberians of Europe for one\npossible key to the origin of the races and languages of America, it is\nwell to keep this test in view for comparison with the widely varying\nnative numerals. But the correspondence is slight, even with probable\nTuranian congeners. One Biscayan form of \u201cthree,\u201d _hirun_, is not unlike\nthe Magyar _harom_; while the _eyg_, \u201cone,\u201d of the latter, seems to find\nits counterpart in the inseparable particle that transforms the Basque\nradical _ham_, \u201cten,\u201d into the _hamaika_, \u201celeven.\u201d But such fragmentary\ntraces are in striking contrast to the radical agreement of Sanskrit,\nZend, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Slavonic, and Teutonic numerals. Mr. Hale\nhas drawn my attention to the curious manner in which the names of the\nfirst five Hochelaga numerals in Cartier\u2019s list are contracted and\nstrengthened in the modern Wyandot; and some of the modifications in the\nIroquois dialects are no less interesting. _Secata_, the Hochelaga\n\u201cone,\u201d survives in the Onondaga _skadah_, while it becomes _skat_ in the\nmodern Huron, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. But in the compounded form of\nthe Wyandot \u201cone hundred,\u201d _skatamendjawe_, as in the Onondaga\n_skadahdewennyachweh_, the terminal _a_ reappears. _Tigneny_, the old\nform of \u201ctwo,\u201d is abridged and strengthened to _tendi_; _asche_, \u201cthree\u201d\n(originally, in all probability, _aschen_, or, as still in use by the\nHurons of Lorette, _achin_), survives as _ahsunh_ or _ahsenh_ in nearly\nall the Iroquois dialects, including the Tuscarora. In the Nottoway it\nis still discernible in the modified _arsa_. The exceptions are the\nSeneca, where it becomes _sen_, while one Wyandot form is _shenk_; which\nreappears in the Seneca compounded form of \u201cthirty,\u201d _shenkwashen_.\n_Honnacon_, \u201cfour,\u201d loses both its initial and terminal syllables, and\nbecomes _dak_ in the Wyandot, and _keih_ or _kei_, an abbreviation of\nthe Mohawk _kayerih_, in the Cayuga and the Seneca dialects. The ancient\nform of \u201cfive,\u201d _ouiscon_, has partially survived in the Huron _ouisch_.\nIt becomes _wisk_, _whisk_, _wish_, or (in the Seneca) _wis_, in all the\nIroquois dialects,\u2014the Wyandot and Cayuga once more agreeing in form.\nThe _ayaga_, \u201cseven,\u201d of the old Hochelaga, nearly resembles the _jadah_\nof several of the Iroquois dialects, as in the Cayuga _jadak_, in the\nTuscarora _janah_, and in the Nottoway _oyag_; whereas in the Wyandot it\nis _tsotar\u00e9_. The _adigue_, \u201ceight,\u201d in its oldest form is _sadekonh_ in\nthe Mohawk, and _dekrunh_ in the Cayuga; with the substitution of the\n_l_ for _r_ it becomes _deklonh_ in the Oneida; and after changing to\n_tekion_ in the Seneca, and _nagronh_ in the Tuscarora, it reappears in\nthe Nottoway as _dekra_. The ancient _madellon_, \u201cnine,\u201d curiously\nsurvives in abridged form, with the substitute for the labial, in the\nOneida _wadlonh_ and the Onondaga _wadonh_, while one Wyandot form is\n_entron_, and that of the Hurons of Lorette _entson_. In the Hochelaga\n_assem_, \u201cten,\u201d we have the old form which is perpetuated in the Wyandot\n_ahsen_, the Onondaga and Cayuga _wasenh_, the Tuscarora _wasunh_, and\nthe Nottoway _washa_; while the Mohawk and the Oneida have the diverse\n_oyerih_, or _oyelih_, with the characteristic change of _r_ into _l_.\nThe form of the Mohawk for \u201cone thousand,\u201d _oyerihnadewunnyaweh_, is an\ninteresting illustration of the progressive development of numbers. _Na_\nis probably a contraction of _nikonh_, \u201cof them,\u201d or \u201cof it,\u201d\u2014the whole\nreading \u201cof them ten hundred.\u201d\n\nIn comparing the languages of the different members of the Iroquois\nconfederacy with the Wyandot or Huron, some of the facts already noted\nin the history of the former have to be kept in view. Two and a half\ncenturies have transpired since the three western nations of the\nconfederacy, the Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas received great\nadditions to their numbers by the successive adoption of Attiwendaronk,\nHuron, and Erie captives, while the Caniengas, or Mohawks, and the\nOneidas remained unaffected by such intrusions. There is direct evidence\nthat the Onondaga language has undergone great change; as a Jesuit\ndictionary of the seventeenth century exists which shows a much nearer\nresemblance between the Mohawk and Onondaga languages at that date than\nnow appears. Allowance must be made for similar changes affecting the\nHurons in their enforced migration from the St. Lawrence to their later\nhomes. Here, as in so many other instances, it becomes interesting to\nnote how the language of a people reflects its history.\n\nIn tracing out slighter and more remote resemblances, such as may be\ndiscerned on a close scrutiny, where the variation between the Hochelaga\nand the modern Wyandot numerals is widest, the different sources of\nchange have to be kept in view. In all such comparisons, moreover,\nallowance must be made for the phonetic reproduction of unfamiliar words\nlearned solely by ear, as well as for the peculiar representation of the\nnasal sounds in their reduction to writing by a French or English\ntranscriber.\n\nThe tradition, mentioned by Dooyentate, of Senecas and Wyandots living\nin friendly contiguity on the Island of Montreal in the sixteenth\ncentury, naturally suggests the probability that their dialects did not\ngreatly differ. Certain noticeable resemblances between the Seneca and\nthe Wyandot numerals have been noted above, but it is only their modern\nforms that are thus open to comparison; and in the process of phonetic\ndecay the Seneca has suffered the greatest change. But after making\nevery allowance for modifications wrought by time, by adoption of\nstrangers into the tribe, and other internal sources of change, as well\nas for the imperfection of Cartier\u2019s renderings of the Hochelaga tongue,\nand for subsequent errors of transcribers and printers, there still\nremains satisfactory evidence of relationship between nearly half of\nCartier\u2019s vocabulary and the corresponding words of the Wyandot tongue.\nA comparison has been made between the Hochelaga numerals and those of\nthe Wyandots of Anderdon. In the comparative table of numerals given on\npage 292, I have placed alongside of the old Hochelaga series derived\nfrom Cartier\u2019s lists those now in use among the Hurons of Lorette, as\nsupplied to me by M. Paul Picard, the son of the late Huron chief. In\nthe third column another version of the Wyandot numerals is given, from\nGallatin\u2019s comparative vocabulary. It is derived from different sources,\nincluding the United States War Department; and therefore, no doubt,\nillustrates the changes which the language has undergone among the\nWyandots on their remote Texas reserve. Gallatin also gives another\nversion of Huron numerals derived from Sagard. It will be seen that M.\nPicard used the _t_ as in Cartier\u2019s lists, and in that of the southern\nWyandots, where the _d_ is employed in others, except in the Nottoway\nnumerals, where the use of both is, no doubt, due to the English\ntranscriber. In comparing the different lists, this variation in\northography and also the interchangeable _k_ and _g_ have to be kept in\nview. Thus the Cayuga has _dekrunh_, in the Oneida _dekelonh_, where the\nTuscarora has _nagronh_. But the Huron _tendi_, in use now both at\nLorette and Anderdon, shows the result of long intercourse with\nEuropeans begetting an appreciation of their discrimination between the\nhard and soft consonants. Had the whole series been derived from one\nsource, such orthographic variations would have disappeared. The lists\nhave been furnished to me by the Rev. J. G. Vincent and M. Picard,\neducated Hurons; L. A. Dorion, an educated Iroquois; Dr. Oronhyatekha,\nan educated Mohawk; Mr. Horatio Hale; and also from Gallatin\u2019s valuable\ncomparative tables of Indian vocabularies in the _Arch\u00e6ologia\nAmericana_. In the _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes_, to which these\nvocabularies form an appendix, Gallatin classed both the Tuteloes and\nthe Nottoways, along with the Tuscaroras, as southern Iroquois tribes.\nBut recent researches of Mr. Hale have established the true place of the\nTuteloes to be with the Dakotan, and not the Huron-Iroquois family. It\nis otherwise with the Cherohakahs, or Nottoways, whose home was in\nsouth-eastern Virginia, where their memory is perpetuated in the name of\nthe river on which they dwelt. At the close of the seventeenth century\nthey still numbered 130 warriors, or about 700 in all; but twenty years\nlater, of the whole tribe only twenty souls survived. At that date two\nvocabularies of the language were obtained, which furnish satisfactory\nevidence of the correctness of their classification among southern\nIroquois tribes. Their numerals, as shown in the tables, approximate, as\nmight be anticipated, to those of the Tuscaroras, at least in the\nmajority of the primary numbers; whereas those of the Tuteloes are\ntotally dissimilar. As to the Basque numerals introduced alongside of\nthem in the comparative tables, they only suffice to show that the\npre-Aryan language still spoken, in varying dialects, on both slopes of\nthe Pyrenees, differed equally widely from the Aryan languages of\nEurope, and from the Iroquois or any other known American language,\nexcept in so far as the latter are agglutinative in structure. Van Eys,\nin his _Basque Grammar_, draws attention to the words _buluzkorri_, and\n_larrugori_, \u201cnaked\u201d; the first of which literally signifies \u201cred hair,\u201d\nand the second \u201cred skin.\u201d They are interesting illustrations of the way\nin which important historical facts lie embedded in ancient languages.\nBut the colour of the hair forbids the inference that the ruddy Basques\nof primitive centuries were akin to the \u201cRedskins\u201d of the New World.\n\nThe phonology of the Iroquois languages is notable in other respects\nbesides those already referred to. According to M. Cuoq, an able\nphilologist, who has laboured for many years as a missionary among the\nIroquois of the Province of Quebec, the sounds are so simple that he\nconsiders an alphabet of twelve letters sufficient for their indication:\n_a_, _e_, _f_, _h_, _i_, _k_, _n_, _o_, _r_, _s_, _t_, _w_. The\ntransliterations noticeable in the various Iroquois dialects, follow a\nwell-known phonetic law. Thus the _l_ and _r_ are interchangeable, as\n_ronkwe_, \u201cman,\u201d in the Mohawk, becomes in the Oneida _lonhwe_; _raxha_,\n\u201cboy,\u201d becomes _laxha_; _rakeniha_, \u201cmy father,\u201d becomes _lakenih_, etc.\nThe same is seen throughout the compound numerals from \u201celeven\u201d onward.\nThe Cayuga and Tuscarora most nearly approach to the Mohawk in this use\nof the _r_. A characteristic change of a different kind is seen in the\ngrammatical value of the initial _r_ in the Mohawk in relation to\ngender. For example, _onkwe_ is applied to mankind, as distinguished\nfrom _karyoh_, \u201cthe brute.\u201d It becomes _ronkwe_, \u201cman,\u201d _yonkwe_\n\u201cwoman.\u201d So also _raxah_, \u201cboy,\u201d changes to _kaxha_, \u201cgirl\u201d;\n_rihyeinah_, \u201cmy son,\u201d to _kheyenah_, \u201cmy daughter,\u201d etc. The change of\ngender is further illustrated in such examples as _raohih_, his apple;\n_raoyen_, his arrow; _ahkohih_, her apple; _ahkoyen_, her arrow;\n_raonahih_ (masc.), _aonahih_ (fem.), their apples; _raodiyenkwireh_\n(masc.), _aodiyenkwireh_ (fem.), their arrows, etc. But this arrangement\nof the formative element as a prefix is characteristic of American\nlanguages, though not peculiar to them. Thus _Seshatsteaghseragwekough_,\nAlmighty God (literally, \u201cThou who hast all power, or strength\u201d),\nbecomes, in the third person, _Rashatsteaghseragwekough_.\n\nThe vowel sounds are very limited. No distinction is apparent in any\nHuron-Iroquois language between the _o_ and the _u_. In writing it the\n_e_ and _u_ sounds are also often interchangeable. Where, for example,\n_e_ is used in one set of the Tuscarora numerals supplied to me, another\nsubstitutes _u_ for it wherever it is followed by an _n_; e.g. _enjih_,\n_unjih_; _ahsenh_, _ahsunh_; _endah_, _undah_, etc. So also the word for\n\u201cman\u201d is written for me in one case _onkwe_, and in another _unkweh_. It\nrequires an acute and practised ear to discriminate the niceties of\nIndian pronunciation, and a no less practised tongue to satisfy the\ncritical native ear. Dr. Oronhyatekha, when pressed to define the value\nof the _t_ sound in his own name, replied \u201cIt is not quite _t_ nor _d_.\u201d\nThe name is compounded of _oronya_, \u201cblue,\u201d the word used in the\nPrayer-Book for \u201cheaven,\u201d and _yodakha_, \u201cburning.\u201d In very similar\nterms, Asikinack, an educated Odahwah Indian, when asked by me whether\nwe should say Ottawa, or Odawa\u2014the Utawa of Morris\u2019s \u201cCanadian Boat\nSong,\u201d\u2014replied that the sound lay between the two,\u2014a nicety\ndiscernible only by Indian ears.\n\nThe euphonic changes which mark the systematic transitions in the Mohawk\nlanguage, though by no means peculiar to it, cannot fail to awaken an\ninterest in the thoughtful student, who reflects on the social condition\nof the people among whom this elaborated vehicle of thought was the\nconstraining power by means of which their chiefs and elders swayed the\nnations of the Iroquois confederacy with an eloquence more powerful and\npersuasive than that of many civilised nations. They have been\nillustrated in the verb; but the same systematic application of euphonic\nchange through all the transitions of their vocabulary is seen in the\nelaborate word-sentences, so characteristic of the extreme length to\nwhich the incorporating mode of structure of the Turanian family of\nlanguages is carried in many of those spoken by the American nations.\nThe habitual concentration of complex ideas in a single word has long\nbeen recognised, not only as giving a peculiar character to many of the\nIndian languages, but as one source of their adaptability to the aims of\nnative oratory. From the Massachusetts Bible of Eliot, Professor Whitney\nquotes a word of eleven syllables; and Gallatin produces from the\nCherokee another of seventeen syllables. This frequently embodies a\ndescriptive holophrasm, and so aids the native rendering of novel\nobjects and ideas into a language, the vocabulary of which is\nnecessarily devoid of the requisite terms. But in such cases the\nagglutinative process is obvious, and the elements of the compounded\nword must be present to the mind of speaker and hearer. The English word\n\u201calmighty\u201d is itself an example of the process. It becomes in the Mohawk\nPrayer-Book _seshatsteaghseragwekonh_, from _seshatsteh_, \u201cyou are\nstrong,\u201d and _ahkwekonh_, \u201call,\u201d or \u201cthe whole.\u201d When the missionaries\nfirst undertook to render into the Mohawk language the Gospels and\nService-Books for Christian worship, it may be doubted if many of their\nconverts had ever seen a sheep. But they had to reproduce in Mohawk this\ngeneral confession: \u201cWe have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost\nsheep.\u201d They did it accordingly in this fashion:\n_Teyagwaderyeadawearyesneoni yoegwathaharagwaghtha tsisahate tsiniyouht\nyodiyadaghtoeouh teyodinakaroetoeha_, which may be literally rendered:\n\u201cWe make a mistake, and get off the track where your road is, the same\nas strayed animals with small horns.\u201d The extreme literalness of the\nrendering may probably strike the mind of the English reader in a way\nthat would not occur to the Indian, familiar with such descriptive\nholophrasms. But it illustrates a difficulty with which Eliot was very\nfamiliar when engaged on his Massachusetts Indian Bible. In translating,\nfor example, the song of Deborah and Barak, where the mother of Sisera\n\u201ccried through the lattice,\u201d the good missionary looked in vain in the\nIndian wigwam for anything that corresponded to the term. At length he\ncalled an Indian and described to him a lattice as wicker-work, and\nobtained in response a rendering of the text which literally meant: \u201cThe\nmother of Sisera looked through an eel-pot.\u201d It was the only kind of\nwicker-work of which the Indian had any knowledge.\n\nEvidences of an exceptional development of the \u00e6sthetic faculty among\nthe nations of the New World have already been noted; but the Iroquois\ncannot be included among those specially noticeable for their imitative\npowers, or in other ways furnishing evidence of any highly developed\nartistic faculty. They cannot compare in this respect with the Zu\u00f1i or\nothers of the Pueblo Indians, among whom the arts of long-settled\nagricultural communities have been developed for purposes of ornament as\nwell as utility; nor is their inferiority less questionable when we\ncompare them with some of the tribes of the north-west coast and the\nneighbouring islands. Their languages confirm this; for while, as Mr.\nCushing has shown, the Zu\u00f1i language possesses many words relating to\nart-processes, the Iroquois and Algonkin dialects supply such terms for\nthe most part only in descriptive holophrasms, and not in primitive\nroots.\n\nIn Iroquois, the word _kar_ or _kare_ signifies \u201cto paint\u201d or \u201cdraw.\u201d\nThe initial _k_ in Iroquois words is usually not radical, and so rarely\nenters into composite terms. The root of _kar_, is _ar_ or _are_, which\nadded to _kaiata_, or _oiata_, \u201cliving thing, person, body,\u201d makes\n_kaiatare_, \u201cimage\u201d or \u201clikeness,\u201d _i.e._ \u201cpictured body,\u201d or as a verb\n\u201cto paint\u201d or \u201cdepict anything.\u201d To this is added the verbal suffix _ta_\nor _tha_, which occasionally becomes _stha_, and has different meanings,\ncausative and instrumental. The Mohawk supplies such words and terms of\nart as _ahyeyatonh_, \u201cto grave\u201d; _rahyatonhs_, \u201can engraver\u201d;\n_ahyekonteke_, \u201cto paint\u201d; _rakonteks_, \u201ca painter\u201d; _s\u2019hakoyatarha_,\n\u201can artist\u201d; _rahkaratahkwas_, \u201ca carver\u201d; _rateanakerahtha_, \u201ca\nmodeller,\u201d or \u201cone who models figures in clay.\u201d In the Iroquois version\nof the Gospel of St. John, chap. viii. verse 6 reads thus: _Nok tanon ne\nIesos wathastsake ehtake nok rasnonsake_ (more correctly, _rasnonkenh_)\n_warate wahiaton onwentsiake_, lit. \u201cBut instead Jesus bent low and with\nhand used, wrote,\u201d or \u201cengraved, on the earth.\u201d The version of the\nsecond commandment in the Mohawk Prayer-Book affords another\nillustration, in the holophrasm _asadatyaghdoenihseroenyea_. It is\ncompounded of _ahsonniyon_, \u201cmake\u201d; _ahsadadonnyen_, \u201cto make for\nyourself\u201d; _kayadonnihsera_, \u201can image\u201d or \u201cdoll.\u201d _Toghsa\nasadatyaghdoenihseroenyea, shekonh othenouh taoesakyatayerea nene enekea\nkarouhyakouh, neteas eghtake oughweatsyakonh_, etc., lit. \u201cDo not make\nan image or idol for yourself, even anything like above in the sky, nor\nbelow in the earth,\u201d etc.\n\nThe word _kaiata_, or _oiata_, as already noted, signifies \u201ca living\nthing, person,\u201d or \u201cbody\u201d; _kakonsa_ or _okonsa_, is the \u201cface\u201d or\n\u201cvisage\u201d; and from those come many derivatives. Bruyas gives _gaiata_,\n\u201ca living thing\u201d; _gaiatare_ (or _kaiatare_) \u201cimage,\u201d and as a verb, \u201cto\npaint.\u201d There is also _gaiatonni_, \u201ca doll\u201d or \u201cpuppet,\u201d _i.e._ \u201ca made\nperson,\u201d from _oiata_ and _konnis_, \u201cto make.\u201d From the same root we may\nprobably derive _kiaton_, \u201cto write,\u201d as in the Iroquois Gospels,\n_wahaiaton_, \u201cwrote\u201d; _kahiaton_, \u201cit is written,\u201d etc. The original\nmeaning was, no doubt, picture-writing, _i.e._ making images of things.\nIn the old Onondaga dictionary of the Jesuit Fathers is the word\n_kiatonnion_, \u201cI keep writing.\u201d The same authority also gives\n_guianatonh_ (_kianatonh_), \u201cI paint,\u201d apparently from another root,\n_oiana_ (_kaiana_) \u201ctrack, walk, gait,\u201d etc., which has many\nderivatives. The remarkable compass and minute nicety of expression\nwhich the Iroquois grammar had acquired in the various languages of the\nSix Nations, approximates to the wonderful expansion effected on the\ncrude Anglo-Saxon verb by the evolution of the auxiliaries out of vague\nactive verbs. This has been effected through the habitual resort to\noratory as a source of combined action in the councils of the tribes,\nwhich constituted one of the most remarkable characteristics of this\nrepresentative Indian stock. In this respect the expressive flexibility\nand rhetorical aptitude of the Iroquois languages stand out in striking\ncontrast to the limited compass of grammatical discrimination in those\nof Europe\u2019s Scandinavian and Teutonic races by whom the Roman empire was\noverthrown. They had indeed their \u201ctun-moot,\u201d the council meeting of the\nvillage community for justice and government; but the deliberations on\nthe moot-hill, though they embodied the germ of all later parliaments,\ngave birth to no such development of language. It is when entering on\nthe history of the grand constitutional struggle for a free parliament\nthat Carlyle, in quaint irony, exclaims, or assigns to his apocryphal\nDryasdust the exclamation: \u201cI have known nations altogether destitute of\nprinters\u2019 types and learned appliances, with nothing better than old\nsongs, monumental stone heaps and quipo-thrums to keep record by, who\nhad truer memory of their memorable things. . . . The English, one can\ndiscern withal, have been perhaps as brave a people as their neighbours;\nperhaps, for valour of action and true hard labour in this earth, since\nbrave peoples were first made in it, there has been none braver any\nwhere or any when:\u2014but also, it must be owned, in stupidity of speech\nthey have no fellow!\u201d[146] It suited the purpose of the satirist to\nignore for the moment that Shakespeare came of that same speechless\nrace. But in its earlier stage when any comparison with Indian nations\nis permissible the irony is not extravagant.\n\nBut apart from the great compass of the Iroquois verb as illustrative of\ngrammatical development in the languages of unlettered nations, another\ncharacteristic feature is the distinction between masculine and feminine\nforms both in speaking of and to a man or woman. In the study of the\nminute niceties of the Iroquois verb I have been largely indebted to Dr.\nOronhyatekha, and to the Rev. Isaac Bearfoot, both educated Mohawks.\nWhen tracing out the comprehensive power of the Mohawk verb, I had in\nview at the same time the recovery of evidences that the language might\nsupply of an inherent recognition of the artistic faculty. This is much\nmore strongly manifested in other American races in all stages of\nprogress, from the ingenious Haidahs and Tawatins of British Columbia,\nand the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, to the semi-civilised nations of\nMexico and the lettered races of Central and Southern America.\nNevertheless the Iroquois recorded in primitive picture-writing the\ndeeds of their departed braves, and have left records in the same crude\nhieroglyphics, such as the graven rock on Cunningham Island, Lake Erie.\nTheir pipes were carved, and their pottery modelled into representations\nof familiar objects indicative of a habitual, though simple practice of\nimitative art that could not fail to beget some counterpart in their\nlanguages. Hence the choice of the verb _kyadarahste_, \u201cto draw.\u201d\n_Kayadareh_, or _kyadareh_, signifies \u201ca body or form _in_,\u201d _e.g._ \u201cin\na frame\u201d or \u201cgroup\u201d; _kyadarastonh_, on the other hand, implies \u201ca body\u201d\nor \u201cform transferred _on_ to something,\u201d _e.g._ a board or canvas. The\nlatter is therefore the more expressive and correct term to use for\ndrawing or painting, while it illustrates the process of augmenting the\nvocabulary to meet the requirements of novel acquisitions in art. But\nits chief value consists in its affording illustration not only of the\ninherent capacity of the language to express with minute nicety of\ndetail the manifestations of an \u00e6sthetic faculty, as yet very partially\ndeveloped, but of the compass of its grammar to indicate every\ndistinctive variation of form expressive of time, place, action, object,\nor subject. The latest results of philological research in this\ndirection are set forth in the _Lexique_ and the _\u00c9tudes philologique_\nof Abb\u00e9 Cuoq, and in an admirable _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ in Mr. Horatio Hale\u2019s\nintroduction to _The Iroquois Book of Rites_.[147] The systematic\nprocesses by which the moods and tenses are indicated, either by changes\nof termination or prefixed particles, or by both conjoined, are\ncarefully indicated by Mr. Hale; but he adds: \u201cA complete grammar of\nthis speech, as full and minute as the best Sanscrit or Greek grammars,\nwould probably equal, and perhaps surpass those grammars in extent. The\nunconscious forces of memory and of discrimination required to maintain\nthis complicated intellectual machine, and to preserve it constantly\nexact, and in good working order, must be prodigious.\u201d This tendency to\nelaborate niceties of discrimination is in striking contrast to that of\nthe modern cultivated languages of Europe; and it is not without reason\nthat it is spoken of as a \u201ccomplicated intellectual machine.\u201d The\ncontrast, for example, between the Mohawk or other Iroquois verb, in all\nits complex variations, and the extreme simplicity of the Anglo-Saxon\nverb, with only its Indefinite and Perfect Tenses,\u2014the former\npredicated either of the present, or of a future time, and the latter of\nany past time,\u2014can scarcely fail to impress the thoughtful student who\nkeeps in view the relative civilisation of the Iroquois, and of the\nEnglish people at the period when Anglo-Saxon in its purely inflectional\nstage was still the national language. The English verb has since then\nacquired wonderful power and compass by means of the auxiliary verbs;\nbut its whole tendency is at variance with the elaborations in number\nand gender of the Iroquois verb. These are only partially illustrated in\nthe above example, and might easily have been carried further. For\nexample, the rendering of the Active, Indicative, Past Progressive, with\nFeminine Object is really a verb in the passive voice. To realise the\nfull inflectional niceties of such minute grammatical distinctions, the\ntwo genders should be given; and also a mixed gender, _i.e._ the two\ngenders together, as the artists may consist of both sexes. This is\nindicated in the two forms of the Future Indefinite, by\n_eas\u2019hakodiyadarahste_, \u201cthey (mas.) shall draw her,\u201d\n_eayaktodiyadarahste_, \u201cthey (fem.) shall draw her.\u201d But a study of the\nparadigm of the Mohawk verb will be found to illustrate in a variety of\ninteresting aspects the process of unpremeditated grammatical evolution\namong an unlettered people, with whom the influence of oratory in the\ncouncils of the tribe was one of their most powerful resources as a\npreliminary to war.\n\nThe grand movement of the barbarian races of Northern Europe in the\nfifth and following centuries is spoken of as the wandering of the\nnations. The natural barriers of the continent seemed for a time to have\ngiven way, and the unknown tribes from beyond the Baltic and from the\nshores of the North Sea poured into the valley of the Danube, and swept\nbeyond the Alps and the Pyrenees to the furthest shores of the\nMediterranean Sea. The physical geography of the New World presents\nfewer barriers to be surmounted. But if the student of North American\nethnology spread before him a map of the continent, and trace out the\nwanderings of the Huron-Iroquois, he must revert in fancy to that remote\nera when confederated Iroquois and Algonkins swept in triumphant fury\nthrough the wasted valley of the Ohio, and repeated there what Goth and\nHun did for Europe, in Rome\u2019s decline and fall. The long-settled and\nsemi-civilised Mound-Builders fled before the furious onset, leaving the\ngreat river-valley a desolate waste. The barrier of an old-settled and\nwell-organised community, which, probably for centuries, had kept\nAmerica\u2019s northern barbarians in check, was removed, and the fierce\nHuron-Iroquois ranged at will over the eastern regions of the continent,\nfar southward of the North Carolina river-valleys, where the Nottoways\nand Tuscaroras found a new home. As to the Nottoways, they appear to\nhave passed out of all remembrance as an Iroquois tribe; yet it is\nsuggestive of a long-forgotten chapter of Indian history, that the name\nis still in use among the northern Algonkins as the designation of the\nwhole Iroquois stock. The Nottawa saga is doubtless a memorial of their\npresence on the Georgian Bay, and the Notaway (_N\u00e1hdahwe_) river which\nfalls into Hudson Bay at James Bay, is so named in memory of\nHuron-Iroquois wanderers into that Algonkin region.\n\nSome portion of the ancient Huron stock tarried on the banks of the St.\nLawrence, in what is known to us now as the traditional cradleland of\nthose Canadian aborigines. Others found their way down the Hudson, or\nselected new homes for themselves on the rivers and lakes that lay to\nthe west, till they reached the shores of Lake Erie; and all that is now\nthe populous region of Western New York was in occupation of the\nIroquois race. Feuds broke out between them and the parent stock in the\nvalley of the St. Lawrence. They meted out to those of their own race\nthe same vengeance as to strangers; and the survivors, abandoning their\nhomes, fled westward in search of settlements beyond their reach. The\nGeorgian Bay lay remote from the territory of the Iroquois, but the\nnations of the Wyandot stock spread beyond it, until the Niagara\npeninsula and the fertile regions between Lake Huron and Lake Erie were\noccupied by them, and the Niagara river alone kept apart what were now\nhostile tribes. But wherever the test of linguistic evidence can be\nobtained their affinities are placed beyond dispute. On the other hand,\nthe multiplication of dialects is no less apparent, and in many ways\nhelps to throw light on the history of the race.\n\nThe old Huron mother tongue still partially preserves the labials which\nhave disappeared from all the Iroquois languages. The Mohawk approaches\nnearest to this, and appears to be the main stem from whence other\nlanguages of the Six Nations have branched off. But the diversities in\nspeech of the various members of the confederacy leave no room to doubt\nthe prolonged isolation of the several tribes, or \u201cnations,\u201d before they\nwere induced to recognise the claims of consanguinity, and to band\ntogether for their common interest. Some of the noteworthy diversities\nof tongue may be pointed out, such as the _r_ sound which predominates\nin the Mohawk, while the _l_ takes its place in the Oneida. In the\nOnondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, they are no longer heard. The last of\nthese reduces the primary forms to the narrowest range; but beyond, to\nthe westward, the old Eries dwelt, speaking, it may be presumed, a\nmodified Seneca dialect, but of which unfortunately no record survives.\nAs to the Tuscaroras and the Nottoways, if we knew nothing of their\nhistory, their languages would suffice to tell that they had been\nlongest and most widely separated from the parent stock.\n\nIt is not without interest to note in conclusion that the main body of\nthe representatives of the nations of the ancient Iroquois league sprung\nfrom the Huron-Iroquois stock of Eastern Canada,\u2014after sojourning for\ncenturies beyond the St. Lawrence, until the traditions of the home of\nthe race had faded out of memory, or given place to mythic legends of\nautochthon origin,\u2014has returned to Canadian soil. At Caughnawaga, St.\nRegis, Oka, and on the river St. Charles, in the Province of Quebec; at\nAnderdon, the Bay of Quint\u00e9, and above all, on the Grand river, in\nOntario; the Huron-Iroquois are now settled to the number of upwards of\n8000, without reckoning other tribes. If, indeed, the surviving\nrepresentatives of the aborigines in the old provinces of the Canadian\nDominion are taken as a whole, they number upwards of 34,000, apart from\nthe many thousands in Manitoba, British Columbia, and the North-west\nTerritories. But the nomad Indians must be classed wholly apart from the\nsettlers on the Grand river reserves. The latter are a highly\nintelligent, civilised people, more and more adapting themselves to the\nhabits of the strangers who have supplanted them; and they are destined\nas certainly to merge into the predominant race, as the waters of their\nancient lakes mingle and are lost in the ocean. Yet the process is no\nlonger one of extinction but of absorption; and will assuredly leave\ntraces of the American autochthones, similar to those which still in\nEurope perpetuate some ethnical memorial of Allophylian races.\n\n-----\n\n[111] _Types of Mankind_, p. 291.\n\n[112] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 43.\n\n[113] _The Indian Races of North and South America_, p. 286.\n\n[114] _Magazine of American History_, vol. x. p. 479.\n\n[115] _Arch\u00e6ologia Americana_, vol. ii. p. 173.\n\n[116] _Indian Migrations_, p. 17.\n\n[117] _Whitney\u2019s Study of Language_, p. 348.\n\n[118] _The Tutelo Tribe and Language_, p. 9.\n\n[119] _Relation_, 1641, p. 72.\n\n[120] _Peter Jones and the Ojibway Indians_, p. 31.\n\n[121] _The Life and Growth of Languages_, p. 259.\n\n[122] Hale\u2019s _Indian Migrations as evidenced by Language_, p. 3.\n\n[123] _Anthropology_, by Dr. Paul Topinard: Eng. Trans., p. 480.\n\n[124] \u201cThe Huron Race and Head-form:\u201d N. S. _Canadian Journal_, vol.\nxiii. p. 113.\n\n[125] _Crania Americana_, p. 195.\n\n[126] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 47.\n\n[127] _The Iroquois Book of Rites_, p. 78.\n\n[128] _Ibid._, pp. 21, 22.\n\n[129] _League of the Iroquois_, p. 4.\n\n[130] _Notes on the Iroquois_, p. 51.\n\n[131] _Lectures on the Science of Language_, 5th ed. p. 58.\n\n[132] _Notes on the Iroquois_, p. 52.\n\n[133] _Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts_, p. 4.\n\n[134] _Pioneers of France in the New World_, p. 367.\n\n[135] _League of the Iroquois_, p. 76.\n\n[136] _The Jesuits in North America_, p. 441 note.\n\n[137] _History of the Indian Tribes_, vol. ii. p. 78.\n\n[138] \u201cHuron Race and Head-form,\u201d _Canadian Journal_, N. S., vol. xiii.\np. 113.\n\n[139] \u201cSome American Illustrations of the Evolution of new Varieties of\nMan,\u201d _Journal of Anthropology_, May 1879.\n\n[140] The Huron vocabulary prepared by the Jesuit Father, Chaumonot, is,\nas I have recently learned, still in existence, and will, I hope, be\nspeedily published under trustworthy editorial supervision.\n\n[141] _The League of the Iroquois_, p. 2.\n\n[142] _Arch\u00e6ologia Americana_, vol. ii. p. 79.\n\n[143] _Indian Migrations_, p. 22.\n\n[144] _Life and Growth of Language_, p. 261.\n\n[145] _Lectures on the Science of Language_, 2nd series, p. 162.\n\n[146] Cromwell\u2019s _Letters and Speeches_, Introduction.\n\n[147] See p. 110.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VII\n                         HYBRIDITY AND HEREDITY\n\n\nFOUR centuries have now completed their course since the discovery of\nAmerica revealed to Europe an indigenous people, distinct in many\nrespects from all the races of the Old World. There, as in the older\nhistoric areas, man is indeed seen in various stages: from the rudest\ncondition of savage life, without any knowledge of metallurgy, and\nsubsisting solely by the chase, to the comparatively civilised nations\nof Mexico, Central America, and Peru, familiar with some of the most\nimportant arts, skilled in agriculture, and with a system of writing\nembodying the essential germs of intellectual progress.\n\nThe western hemisphere, which was the arena of such ethnical\ndevelopment, had lain, for unnumbered centuries, apart from Asia and\nEurope; and so its various nationalities and races were left to work out\ntheir own destinies, and to develop in their own way whatever inherent\ncapacities for progress pertained to them. But this done, it was\nabruptly brought into intimate relations with Europe by the maritime\ndiscoveries which marked the closing years of the fifteenth century.\n\nFrom that date a constant transfer of races from the Old to the New\nWorld has been taking place, alike by voluntary and enforced migration;\nwith results involving a series of undesigned yet exhaustive\nethnological experiments carried out on the grandest scale. There alike\nhas been tested to what extent the European and the African are affected\nby migration to new regions, and by admixture with diverse races. There\ncan now be witnessed the results of a transference, for upwards of three\ncenturies, of indigenous populations of the Old World to a continent\nwhere they have been subjected to many novel geographical, climatic, and\nsocial influences. There, too, has taken place, on a scale without any\nparallel elsewhere, an intimate and prolonged intermixture of some of\nthe most highly cultured races of Europe with purely savage tribes,\nunder circumstances which have tended to place them, for the time being,\non an equality as hunters, trappers, or explorers of their vast forest\nand prairie wilds.\n\nThe whole question of heredity, its phenomena and results, is now in\nprocess of review under the novel phases that affect anthropology; and\nin this view the illustrations which the New World supplies in reference\nto hybridity and absorption have a distinctive value. The anthropologist\nrecognises various elements marking diversity of race in stature,\ncolour, proportion of limbs, conformation of skull, colour and other\ncharacteristics of eye and hair. He also notes no less distinctively the\ndiverse intellectual and moral aptitudes. Noticeable as are the\ndiversities of national type in Europe, the range of variation is\ntrifling when compared with the conditions under which the White, Red,\nand Black races have met and intermingled in the West Indies and in\nNorth and South America. The cultured and civilised races of Europe have\nthere united their blood with the African negro and the native Indian\nsavage; and both admixtures have been carried out on so great a scale as\nto furnish indisputable data for determining the question how far the\nhalf-breed is a mean between the two parents; or if there is any\ninevitable preponderance of one of them, with a tendency to revert to\none or the other type. The intermarriage of fair and dark races of the\nOld World has gone on throughout the whole historic period, with\napparently resultant intermediate types. The Iberians and \u201cblack Celts\u201d\nof Western Europe, and the dark brunettes of the Mediterranean shores,\nstand out in marked contrast to the blondes of the Baltic shores.\nWhatever may be said of other diversities of race, Professor Huxley is\nled to the opinion that the Melanochroi, or dark whites, are not a\ndistinct group, but the metis resultant from just such a mixture of his\n\u201cAustralioids\u201d and his \u201cXanthocroi,\u201d as has been going on for centuries\non the American continent between the blondes of Europe and the native\nolive-skinned American, and between both of them and the dark African\nrace.\n\nYet, on the other hand, many anthropologists insist on the survival of\ndistinct types, even among approximate races, as shown in the remarkable\npersistency of the Jewish type, notwithstanding the modifications that\nhave resulted from intermarriage with fair and dark races of many lands.\nDr. F. von Luschan, in describing the Tachtadschy,[148] calls attention\nto the fact that the Greeks of Lycia represent a mixture of two distinct\ntypes. From this he draws the following inference: \u201cAt first glance it\nappears remarkable and hardly probable that two disparate types should\nremain distinct, although intermarriage has continued without\ninterruption through thousands of years. But we must acknowledge that it\nwould be just as remarkable if continued intercrossing should result in\nthe production of a middle type (_Mischform_). It is true that at the\npresent time the greater number of anthropologists appear to be of the\nopinion that middle forms originate wherever two distinct types live in\nclose contact for a long time. If this is true at all, it is true only\nin a very limited sense, and still needs to be proven. _A priori_, we\nrather ought to expect that one or the other of these types would soon\nsuccumb in the struggle for existence. It would become extinct, and give\nway to the other type; or both types might continue to co-exist,\nalthough intercrossing might go on for centuries. They would undergo no\nother changes than those which each singly, uninfluenced by the other,\nwould have undergone by the agency of physical causes.\u201d\n\nThe evidence we possess of the physical characteristics of the\nsuccession of races in Europe from pal\u00e6olithic times is already\nconsiderable; and in reference to neolithic and later periods is ample.\nWithin the recent historic period of the decline and fall of Rome, and\nthe influx of Northern and Asiatic barbarians, the evidence of admixture\nof race is abundant; and the physical, intellectual, and moral changes\nresulting therefrom have stamped their ineffaceable impress on history.\nBut the conditions under which the meeting of the Aryans with\nAllophylians, Neolithians, or other prehistoric races took place in\nolder centuries, can only be surmised; and the many analogies resulting\nfrom the intrusion of the European races on the aborigines of the\nwestern hemisphere are calculated to render useful aid in determining\nsome definite results.\n\nHistory has familiarised us with the idea of sovereign and subject\nraces. The monuments of Egypt perpetuate the fact from its remote dawn,\nPunic, Roman, Gothic, Frank, Saracenic, and Scandinavian races, have in\nturn subdued others, and made them subservient to their will. Evidence\nof a different kind, but little less definite, points to the intrusion\ninto Europe in prehistoric times of races superior alike in physical\ntype, and in the arts upon which progress depends, to the Autochthones,\nor primitive occupants of the soil. Further indications have been\nassumed to point to the contemporaneous presence, in primeval Britain,\nas elsewhere, of races of diverse type, and apparently in the relation\nof lord and serf: a natural if not indeed inevitable consequence of the\nintrusion of a superior race of conquerors.\n\nBut in the New World the inaptitude of the native race for useful\nserfdom largely contributed to the introduction there of other and very\ndiverse races from Africa and Asia; so that now within a well-defined\nNorth American area, indigenous populations of the three continents of\nthe Old World are displacing its native races. Still more, all three\nmeet there under circumstances which inevitably lead to their\nintermixture with one another, and with the native races.\n\nVarious terms, such as Iberian, Silurian, Canstadt, Cimbric, Finnish,\nand Turanian, have been applied to primitive types as expressive of the\nhypothesis of their origin. But on turning to the American continent we\nsee vast regions occupied exclusively until a comparatively recent\nperiod by tribes of savage hunters, upon whom some of the most civilised\nraces of Europe have intruded, with results in many respects so\nstrikingly accordant with the supposed evolution of the Melanochroi of\nthe Old World, that we seem to look upon a series of ethnological\nexperiments prolonged through centuries, with synthetic results to a\nlarge extent confirmatory of previous inductions.\n\nThe intermingling of very diverse races at present taking place on the\nAmerican continent includes some of widely diverse types. There is seen\nthe Portuguese in Brazil; the Spaniard in Peru, Mexico, Central America,\nand in Cuba; the African in the West Indies and the Southern States; the\nChinese on the Pacific; the Frenchman on the St. Lawrence; the German,\nthe Italian, the Norwegian, the Icelander, the Celt, and the\nAnglo-Saxon: all subjected to novel influences, necessarily testing the\nresults of a change of climate, of diet, and of social habits, on the\nethnical character of each. There too, alike in the Red and the Black\nraces, we can study the results of hybridity carried out on a scale\nadequate to determine many important points calculated to throw light on\nthe origin and perpetuation of diverse races of mankind.\n\nThe growth of a race of hybrid African blood has been one of the results\nof the substitution at an early date of imported negro slaves to supply\nthe place of the rapidly disappearing Indians who perished under the\nexactions of their taskmasters. According to careful data set forth in\nthe United States census for 1850, the whole number of native Africans\nimported cannot have exceeded 400,000. At present the coloured\nrace\u2014hybrids chiefly\u2014of African blood numbers nearly 7,000,000. In\n1715 there were 58,000 negroes in British America; in 1775, when the\nrevolution broke out, there were 501,102. After the epoch of\nindependence the increase became more rapid. In 1790 the numbers were\n757,208; in 1800, 893,041; in 1810, 1,191,364. At the date of\nemancipation in 1865 there were, in round numbers, in slavery,\n4,000,000; and at the census in 1880 the negro population in the United\nStates had risen to 6,580,793;[149] and in the returns thus far\npublished relative to the later census of 1890, in the Southern States\nalone they are reported to number 6,996,116; so that with the added\nnumbers of the Northern States and Canada they can fall little short of\n8,000,000. Of this numerous intrusive race, the larger number are\nhybrids; and, as was inevitable, they include some small proportion of\nmixed negro and Indian blood.[150] But it is the Metis, or White and Red\nhalf-breed, that constitutes the subject of special interest here.\n\nVarious causes have tended to beget more friendly relations between the\nolder colonists of New France, and at a later date between those of\nBritish America and the native Indian race, than have existed either in\nSpanish America or the United States.\n\nThe great North-West, with its warlike Chippeways, Crees, Sioux, and\nBlackfeet; and beyond the Rocky Mountains its Tinn\u00e9, Babeens, Clalams,\nNewatees, Chinooks, Cowlitz, and numerous other native tribes; had till\nrecently been under the control of the all-powerful fur-trading company\nof Hudson Bay. The interests of the fur-traders stimulated them to fair\nand honourable dealing with the native tribes; and while they had no\nmotive to encourage the Indians to abandon their nomadic life for the\ncivilised habits of a settled people, or even to interpose in the wars\nwhich varied the monotony of the Indians\u2019 wild hunter-life, they had so\nthoroughly won the confidence of the natives, that tribes at open enmity\nwith each other were ready to repose equal confidence in the Hudson Bay\nfactors.\n\nThe late Paul Kane, author of _Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians\nof North America_, informed me that when travelling beyond the Rocky\nMountains he found no difficulty in transmitting his correspondence\nhome, even when among the rudest Flathead savages. His packet, entrusted\nto one of the tribe, was accompanied with a small gift of tobacco, and\nthe request to have it forwarded to Fort Garry, or other Hudson Bay\nfort. The messenger\u2014Cowlitz, Chinook, Nasquallie, or other\nIndian,\u2014carried it to the frontier of his own hunting-grounds, and then\nsold it for so much tobacco to some Indian of another tribe; by him it\nwas passed on, by like process of barter, till it crossed the Rocky\nMountains into the territory of the Blackfeet, the Crees, and so onward\nto its destination, in full confidence that the officers of the Hudson\nBay Fort would sustain the credit of the White Medicine-man (for so the\npainter was regarded), and redeem the packet at its full value in\ntobacco or other equivalent.\n\nThe personal interests of the little bands of European fur-traders thus\nsettled in the heart of a wilderness, and surrounded by savage hunters,\nno less strongly prompted them to exclude the maddening fire-water from\nthe vast regions under their control. Guns and ammunition, kettles,\naxes, knives, beads, and other trinkets, with the no less prized\ntobacco, were abundantly provided for barter. Even nails and the iron\nhoops of their barrels were traded with the Indians, and displaced the\nprimitive tomahawk and arrow head of flint or stone. Thus, curiously,\nthe Stone period of a people still in the most primitive stage of\nbarbarism has been superseded by the use of metals obtained solely by\nbarter, and without any advance either in the knowledge of metallurgy,\nor in the mastery of the arts which lie at the foundation of all\ncivilisation. Long before the advent of Europeans, the Chippeways along\nthe shores of Lake Superior had been familiar with the native copper\nwhich abounds there in the condition of pure metal. But they knew it\nonly as a kind of malleable stone; nor have they even now learned the\napplication of fire in their simple metallurgic processes. The root of\ntheir names for iron and copper is the same abstract term, _wahbik_,\nused only in compound words, and apparently in the sense of rock or\nstone. _Pewahbik_ is iron; _ozahwahbik_, copper, literally the yellow\nstone. It formed no part of the Hudson Bay traders\u2019 aim to advance him\nbeyond the stage of a savage hunter. It was incompatible with the\ninterests of the fur-trader to teach him any higher use of the rich\nprairie land than that of a wilderness inhabited by fur-bearing animals,\nor a grazing ground for the herds of buffalo which furnished their\nannual supply of pemmican; or to familiarise him with more of the\nborrowed arts of civilisation than helped to facilitate the accumulation\nof peltries in the factory stores. Hence the intrusive Europeans and the\nnative tribes met on common ground, engaged in the same pursuits, all\ntending to foster the habits of hunter-life; and so presenting a close\nanalogy to the condition of Europe when, in its Neolithic age, its rude\nhunter tribes were invaded by the Aryans. Thus engaged to a large extent\nin the same pursuits, the Whites and Indians of the Canadian North-West\nhave dwelt together for successive generations on terms of comparative\nequality, and with results of curious interest, hereafter referred to,\nin relation to the intermingling of the races.\n\nIn the long-settled provinces of Canada it has been otherwise. There the\naborigines had to be gathered together on suitable reserves, and induced\nto accommodate themselves in some degree to the habits of an industrious\nagricultural population; or to be driven out, to wander off into the\ngreat hunting-grounds of the uncleared West. The exterminating native\nwars, which preceded the settlement of Upper Canada, greatly facilitated\nthis; and the tribes with which the English colonists of Ontario have\nhad to deal have been for the most part immigrants, not greatly less\nrecent than themselves. As to the Six Nation Indians settled on the\nGrand River and at the Bay of Quint\u00e9 (the most numerous and the farthest\nadvanced in civilisation of all the Indians in the British provinces),\nthey are a body of loyalist refugees who followed the fortunes of their\nEnglish allies on the declaration of independence by the revolted\nColonies; and there is now in use, at the little Indian Church at\nTuscarora, the silver Communion Plate presented to their ancestors while\nstill in the valley of the Mohawk, in the State of New York, the gift of\nHer Majesty Queen Anne, \u201cto her Indian Chappel of the Mohawks.\u201d[151]\n\nBut the civilisation which has thus resulted from prolonged and intimate\nrelations with the Whites, has been accompanied by an inevitable\nadmixture of blood, of which the results are abundantly manifest in the\nphysical characteristics of the Indian settlers, both on the Grand river\nand at the Bay of Quint\u00e9. The system of adopting members of other\ntribes, including even those of their vanquished foes, to recruit their\nown numbers, was practised by many of the North American tribes, and was\nfamiliar to the Iroquois, or Indians of the Five Nations, as they were\nstyled before the admission of the Tuscaroras to their confederacy. In\n1649, for example, the survivors of two of the Huron towns which they\nhad ravaged, besought the favour of the victors, and were adopted into\nthe Seneca nation. Nor did extreme differences of race interfere with\naffiliation, as in the case of children kidnapped from the White\ncolonists in their vicinity. One interesting example of the latter\nsuffices to illustrate the extent to which such a process tended to\naffect the ethnical purity of the race.\n\nIn the year 1779, while the Mohawks still dwelt in their native valley\nin the State of New York, Ste-nah, a white girl, then about twelve years\nof age, was captured in one of their marauding expeditions, and adopted\ninto the tribe. In 1868, while still living, she was described to me by\nan educated Mohawk India, as a full-blood _Sko-ha-ra_, or Dutchwoman.\nShe grew up among her captors, accompanied the tribe on their removal\nfrom the Mohawk valley to the shores of the Bay of Quint\u00e9, and married\none of the Mohawk braves. She had reached mature years, and was the\nmother of Indian children, when an aged stranger visited the reserve in\nsearch of his long-lost daughter. He had heard of a captive white woman\nwho survived among the emigrant Mohawks there, and was able, by certain\nmarks, and the scar of a wound received in childhood, to identify his\nlong-lost daughter. But the discovery came too late. As my Mohawk\ninformant told me, she had got an Indian heart. She had, indeed, lost\nher native tongue; had acquired the habits and sympathies of her adopted\npeople; and coldly repelled the advances of her aged father, who in vain\nrecalled his long-lost daughter Christina in the Mohawk white-blood,\n_Ste-nah_. If the date of her capture and her estimated age can be\nrelied on, she must have been in her hundred and fifth year at the time\nof her death, in December 1871. I have received through one of her\ngrandsons\u2014himself a Mohawk chief,\u2014a genealogical table of her\ndescendants, from which it appears that there are at the present time\nfifty-seven of them living and twenty-three dead. It is thus apparent,\nthat by the adoption of a single White captive into the tribe, there\nare, in the fourth generation, fifty-seven survivors out of eighty\nmembers of the tribe, all of them of hybrid character.\n\nThe influence of a single case of admixture of White blood, thus\nfollowed out to its results in the fourth generation, suffices to show\nhow largely those tribes must be affected who dwell for any length of\ntime in close vicinity to White settlers, and in intimate friendly\nrelations with them. The earlier French and English colonists, like the\nHudson Bay traders of later times, were mostly young adventurers,\nwithout wives, and readily entering into alliance with the native women.\nThe children of such unions were admitted to a perfect equality with the\nWhites, when trained up in their settlements; and in the older period of\nFrench and English rivalry the Indians were dealt with on very different\nterms from those with which they are now regarded, though even yet some\nmemory of older relations survives.\n\nDuring the wars between the French and English colonists to the north\nand south of the St. Lawrence, in the seventeenth and eighteenth\ncenturies, the alliance of neighbouring Indian tribes was courted; and\nthe traditions of the fidelity of the Hurons to the French, and the\nloyalty of the Iroquois to the English, are cherished as incentives to\nthe fulfilment of obligations entered into on behalf of the little\nremnant of the Huron nation remaining on the river St. Charles, below\nQuebec; and to a liberal and generous policy towards the Six Nation\nIndians settled on the Grand river and elsewhere in Western Canada.\n\nBut also in the primitive simplicity of border life, the half-civilised\nIndian and the rude settler meet on common ground; and in some cases the\nfriendly relations established between them have survived the more\nsettled condition of agricultural progress in the clearings. In this\nrespect the older colonists of Quebec fraternised far more readily with\nthe native population than has been the case with English settlers. The\nrelations in which the early French colonists stood to the Indians of\nLower Canada bore more resemblance to those of the fur-traders of the\nNorth-West in later times, and were of a kindlier nature than those of\nthe intrusive European emigrants of the present century. Prior to the\naccession of Louis XIV. to the throne, the French possessions in the New\nWorld had been regarded as little more than a hunting-ground to be\nturned to the same account as the Hudson Bay Company\u2019s territory; and\nthe peopling of Canada had given little promise of permanent\ncolonisation. Priests and nuns alone varied the usual class of trading\nadventurers who resort to a young colony. But soon after the King\nreached his majority, a systematic shipment of emigrants to Canada was\norganised under the direction of Colbert; sundry companies of soldiers\nwere disbanded in the colony; and then, at last, the necessity of\nfinding wives for the settlers was recognised. Thereupon a system of\nfemale emigration, with bounties on marriage, was established. Colbert,\nwriting to the Canadian Intendant, tells him that the prosperity of the\npeople, and all that is most dear to them as colonists, depend upon\ntheir securing the marriage of youths not later than their eighteenth or\nnineteenth year to girls at fourteen or fifteen; and the next step was\nto impose a fine on the father of a family who neglected to marry his\nchildren when they reached the respective ages of twenty and sixteen.\n\nUp to this period the native women had chiefly supplied wives for the\ncolonists; nor was this element now ignored or slighted. In the _M\u00e9moire\nsur l\u2019Etat Pr\u00e9sent du Canada_, 1667, it is stated: \u201cAt this time it was\nbelieved that the Indians, mingled with the French, might become a\nvaluable part of the population. The reproductive qualities of Indian\nwomen therefore became an object of attention to Talon, the Royal\nIntendant; and he reports that they impair their fertility by nursing\ntheir children longer than is needful; but, he adds, \u2018this obstacle to\nthe speedy building up of the colony can be overcome by regulations of\npolice.\u2019\u201d Thus it is apparent that the strongest encouragement was given\nto such alliances.\n\nThe religious element, moreover, among a purely Roman Catholic\npopulation, helped to foster a sense of equality in the case of the\nChristianised Indian; while the gentler and less progressive habits of\nthe French habitants have tended to prevent direct collision with the\nIndians settled in their midst. Hence in the province of Quebec,\nhalf-breeds, and men and women of partial Indian blood, are frequently\nto be met with in all ranks of life; and slighter traces, discernible in\nthe hair, the eye, the cheek-bone, and peculiar mouth, as well as\ncertain traits of Indian character, suggest to the close observer remote\nindications of the same admixture of blood.\n\nBut while favouring influences in national character, political\ninstitutions, and religion, all united to encourage a more friendly\nintercourse between the native and European population of Lower Canada,\nthe circumstances attendant on the settlement of new clearings have\neverywhere led in some degree to similar results; and experience\nabundantly proves the impossibility of preserving distinct two races\nliving in close proximity to each other.\n\nThroughout the old provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and the Maritime\nProvinces, where the aborigines are mostly congregated on reserves,\nunder the charge of Government officers of the Indian Department, they\nappear, with few exceptions, to have passed the critical stage of\ntransition from a nomadic state to that of assimilation to the habits of\nsettled industry of the Whites.\n\nThe native tribes of the old provinces of the Dominion, though bearing a\nvariety of names, may all be classed under the two essentially distinct\ngroups of Algonkins and Iroquois. Under the former head properly rank\nthe Micmacs, and other tribes of Prince Edward\u2019s Island, Nova Scotia,\nand New Brunswick; and the Chippeways, including Ottawas, Mississagas,\nPottawattomies, etc., of Ontario. Under the other head have to be placed\nnot only the Six Nations\u2014Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas,\nand Tuscaroras,\u2014but also the Wyandots, or Hurons, both of Upper and\nLower Canada; though among the one were found the faithful allies of the\nEnglish, while the other adhered persistently to the French; and to the\ndeadly enmity between them was due the expulsion of the Hurons from\ntheir ancient territory on the Georgian Bay, and the extermination of\nall but an insignificant remnant, including the refugees on the St.\nCharles river, below Quebec.\n\nThe Canadian census of 1871 includes the aborigines in the enumeration\nof the population of the Dominion, and states the grand total of the\nIndians of the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New\nBrunswick, at 23,035.\n\nThat the Indian population, gathered on their own reserved lands under\nthe care of Government superintendents, is not diminishing in numbers,\nappears to be universally admitted. But as, at the same time, the pure\nrace is being largely replaced by younger generations of mixed blood,\nthe results cannot be looked upon as encouraging the hope of\nperpetuating the native Indian race under such exceptional conditions;\nnor can it be overlooked that the increase is partly begot by the\naddition of a foreign element. At best the results point rather to such\na process of absorption as appears to be the inevitable result wherever\na race, alike inferior in numbers and in progressive energy, escapes\nextirpation at the hands of the intruders.\n\nIn the boyhood of the older generation of Toronto, hundreds of Indians,\nincluding those of the old Mississaga tribe, were to be seen about the\nstreets. Now, at rare intervals, two or three squaws, in round hats,\nblue blankets, and Indian leggings, attract attention less by their\nfeatures than their dress; for in complexion they are nearly as white as\nthose of pure European descent. The same is the case on all the oldest\nIndian reserves. The Hurons of Lorette, whose forefathers were brought\nto Lower Canada after the massacre of their nation by the Iroquois in\n1649, are reported to have considerably increased in numbers in the\ninterval between 1844 and the last census. But while the Commissioners\nrefer to them as a band of Indians \u201cthe most advanced in civilisation in\nthe whole of Canada,\u201d they add that \u201cthey have, by the intermixture of\nWhite blood, so far lost the original purity of race as scarcely to be\nconsidered as Indians.\u201d In their case this admixture with the European\nrace has been protracted through a period of upwards of two centuries,\ntill they have lost their Indian language, and substituted for it a\nFrench patois. Were it not for their hereditary right to a share in\ncertain Indian funds, which furnishes an inducement to perpetuate their\ndescent from the Huron nation, they would long since have merged in the\ncommon stock. Yet the results would not thereby have been eradicated,\nbut only lost sight of. Their baptismal registers and genealogical\ntraditions supply the record of a practical, though undesigned,\nexperiment as to the influence of hybridity on the perpetuation of the\nrace, and show the mixed descendants of Huron and French blood still,\nafter a lapse of upwards of two centuries, betraying no traces of a\ntendency towards infertility or extinction.\n\nIn the Maritime Provinces the Micmacs are the representatives of the\naboriginal owners of the soil. Small encampments of them may be\nencountered in summer on the Lower St. Lawrence, busily engaged in the\nmanufacture of staves, barrel-hoops, axe-handles, and baskets of various\nkinds, which they dispose of, with much shrewdness, to the traders of\nQuebec, and the smaller towns on the Gulf. So far as I have seen, the\npure-blood Micmac has more of the dark-red, in contrast to the prevalent\nolive hue, than other Indians. But the Micmacs of Nova Scotia and New\nBrunswick reveal the same evidence of inevitable amalgamation with the\npredominant race as elsewhere. The Rev. S. T. Rand\u2014a devoted missionary\nlabouring among the Indians of Nova Scotia,\u2014on being asked to obtain a\nphotograph of a pure-blood representative of the tribe, had some\ndifficulty in finding a single example, and stated that not one is to be\nfound among the younger generation.\n\nIn the old provinces the Indians are in the minority; but the same\nprocess is apparent where little bands of pioneers leave the settled\nprovinces and states to begin new clearings, or to engage in the\nadventurous life of hunters and trappers in the far West. The hunter\nfinds a bride among the native women; and when at length the wild tribe\nrecedes before the growing clearing and the diminished supplies of game,\nit not only leaves behind a half-breed population as the nucleus of the\ncivilised community, but it also carries away with it a like element,\nincreasingly affecting the ethnical character of the whole tribe.\n\nThe same circumstances have continued, in every frontier settlement, to\ninvolve the inevitable production of a race of half-breeds. Even the\ncruellest exterminations of hostile tribes have rarely been carried out\nso effectually as to preclude this. In New England, for example, after\nthe desolating war of 1637, which resulted in the extinction of the\nPequot tribe, Winthrop thus summarily records the policy of the victors:\n\u201cWe sent the male children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and the\nwomen and maid children are disposed about in the towns.\u201d Such a female\npopulation could not grow up in a young colony, with the wonted\npreponderance of males, and leave no traces in subsequent generations.\n\nSeeing, then, that the meeting of two types of humanity so essentially\ndistinct as the European and the native Indian of America, has, for\nupwards of three centuries, led to the production of a hybrid race, it\nbecomes an interesting question, what has been the ultimate result? Has\nthe mixed breed proved infertile, and so disappeared; has it perpetuated\na new and permanent type of intermediate characteristics; or has it been\nabsorbed into the predominant European race without leaving traces of\nthis foreign element? These questions are not without their significance\neven in reference to the policy in dealing with the Indian settlements\nin old centres of population; for the traces of this intermingling of\nthe races of the Old and New World are neither limited to frontier\nsettlements nor to Indian reserves.\n\nAmong Canadians of mixed blood there are men at the Bar and in the\nLegislature, in the Church, in the medical profession, holding rank in\nthe army, in aldermanic and other civic offices, and engaged in active\ntrade and commerce. A curious case was recently brought before the law\ncourts in Ontario. A son of the chief of the Wyandot Indians settled in\nWestern Canada, left the reserves of his tribe, engaged in business, and\nacquired a large amount of real estate and personal property. He won for\nhimself, moreover, such general respect that he was elected Reeve of\nAnderdon by a considerable majority over a White candidate. Thereupon\nhis rival applied to have him unseated, on the plea that a person of\nIndian blood was not a citizen in the eye of the law. Fortunately the\njudge took a common-sense view of the case, and decided that as he held\na sufficient property-qualification within the county, the election was\nvalid.\n\nThat an Indian ceases to be such in the eye of the law, and in all\npractical relations to society, when he becomes an educated industrious\nmember of the general community, and competes not only for its\nprivileges but for its highest honours, is inevitable. But it is not\nwith the Indian as with the Negro mixed race. The privileges and the\ndisabilities of the Indian ward may both be cast off; but a certain\ndegree of romance attaches to Indian blood, when accompanied with the\nculture and civilisation of the European. The descendants of Brant and\nother distinguished native chiefs are still proud to claim their\nlineage, where the physical traces of such an ancestry would escape the\neye of a common observer. Traces of Indian descent may be recognised\namong ladies of attractive refinement and intelligence, and with certain\nmental as well as physical traits which add to the charm of their\nsociety. Similar indications of the blood of the aborigines are familiar\nto Canadians in the gay assemblies of a Governor-General\u2019s receptions,\nin the halls of Legislature, in the diocesan synods and other\necclesiastical assemblies, and amongst the undergraduates of Canadian\nuniversities.\n\nBut the condition of men and women of mixed blood, admitted to all the\nprivileges of citizenship, and mingling in perfect equality with all\nother members of the community, is in striking contrast to that of the\noccupants of the Indian reserves, where they are settled, for the most\npart in isolated bands, in the midst of a progressive White population.\nSuch a condition is manifestly an unfavourable one, and one, moreover,\nwhich cannot be regarded as other than transitional. They are\nconfessedly dealt with as wards, in a state of pupilage.\n\nA growing sense of the necessity for some modification of this system\nhas been felt for a considerable time; and in 1867 \u201cAn Act to encourage\nthe gradual Civilisation of the Indian Tribes,\u201d received the royal\nassent. This Act avowedly aims at the \u201cgradual removal of all legal\ndistinctions between them and Her Majesty\u2019s other Canadian subjects; and\nto facilitate the acquisition of property, and of the rights\naccompanying it, by such individual members of the said tribes as shall\nbe found to desire such encouragement, and to have deserved it.\u201d\n\nThat the ultimate result of this will involve the disappearance of the\nIndian as a distinct race is inevitable. He will be absorbed into the\ndominant race; not to be displaced or driven out of the community; but\nto be perpetuated, as the precursors of the blonde Aryans of Europe\nstill survive in the \u201cdark Whites\u201d that now, in undisputed equality,\nenjoy all the rights of citizenship of a common race. They will indeed\nconstitute but a small remnant of the nations of Euramerican blood. That\nwhole tribes and peoples of the American aborigines have been\nexterminated in the process of colonisation of the New World is no more\nto be questioned, than that a similar result followed from the Roman\nconquest and colonisation of Britain. Nevertheless, long and careful\nstudy of the subject has satisfied me that a larger amount of absorption\nof the Indian into the Anglo-American race has occurred than is\ngenerally recognised.\n\nFully to appreciate this, it is necessary to retrace the course of\nevents by which America has been transferred to the descendants of\nEuropean colonists. At every fresh stage of colonisation, or of\npioneering into the wild West, the work has necessarily been\naccomplished by hardy young adventurers, or the hunters or trappers of\nthe clearing. It is rare indeed for such to be accompanied by wives or\ndaughters. Where they find a home they take to themselves wives from\namong the native women; and their offspring share in whatever advantages\nthe father transplants with him to this home in the wilderness. To such\nmingling of blood, in its least favourable aspects, the prejudices of\nthe Indian present little obstacle. Henry, in his narrative of travel\namong the Cristineaux on Lake Winipagoos upwards of a century ago, after\ndescribing the dress and allurements of the women, adds: \u201cOne of the\nchiefs assured me that the children borne by their women to Europeans\nwere bolder warriors and better hunters than themselves.\u201d This idea\nrecurs in various forms. The half-breed lumberers and trappers are\nvalued throughout Canada for their hardihood and patient endurance; the\nhalf-breed hunters and trappers are equally esteemed in the Hudson Bay\nterritory; and beyond their remotest forts Dr. Kane reported, as his\nexperience within the Arctic circle, that \u201cthe half-breeds of the coast\nrival the Esquimaux in their powers of endurance.\u201d\n\nMr. Charles Horetskey, in his _Canada on the Pacific_, after remarking\non the well-known fact that Japanese junks have been known to drift on\nto the Pacific coast of America, and so contribute new elements of\nMongolian character to the native population, thus proceeds to notice\nanother element of hybridity. \u201cThere is,\u201d he says, \u201canother mixture in\nthe blood on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and a very marked\none\u2014the Spanish, owing to the Spaniards having long had a settlement at\nNootka. Strangely enough, the Spanish cast of countenance does not show\nin the women, who have the same flat features as their sisters to the\neastward. Nor is it so noticeable among the young men, many of whom,\nhowever, have beards\u2014a most unusual appendage among American Indians,\nand of course traceable to the cause referred to. The features are more\nobservable among the older men, many of whom, with their long, narrow,\npointed faces and beards, would, if washed, present very fair models for\nDon Quixote.\u201d Within the region of Alaska, Russian traders have\ncontributed another element to the mingling of races; and Mr. Wm. H.\nDall, in his _Alaska and its Resources_, states specifically the number\nof the Creoles or half-breeds of that region as 1421. But the present\ncondition of society there favours their increase. In 1842, they were,\nfor the first time, qualified to enter the Church as priests; and in\n1865, the American Expedition found Ivan Pavloff, the son of a Russian\nfather and a native woman of Kenai, filling the office of Bidarshik, or\ncommander of the post at Nulato. He was legally married to a\nfull-blooded Indian woman, by whom he had a large family.\n\nAnother intrusive element, that of the Asiatic Mongol, has awakened\nalarm for the possible future of the white race of settlers, both in\nAmerica and in Australia. In 1875 the number of Chinese in California\namounted to 130,000; 19,000 arrived in a single year. They speedily made\ntheir way to the New England States, and to Eastern Canada; till it has\nbeen deemed politic to forbid further immigration. It is the intrusion\nof a type approximating to the American Mongol, and so has a special\ninterest in its bearing on the ethnology of the continent; for here we\nsee the approximate types of Asia and America brought into contact, it\nmay be as descendants of a common stock, separated through unnumbered\ncenturies by untraversed oceans.\n\nThe Indians of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were estimated in\n1860 to number 75,000. The observations of Paul Kane in 1846 showed that\na considerable half-breed population already existed then in the\nvicinity of every Hudson Bay fort. But at the later date the reported\nrichness of the gold-diggings was attracting hundreds of settlers; and\nas usual, in such cases, nearly all males. The admixture of blood with\nthe native population consequent on such a social condition is\ninevitable; and though such a population is least likely to leave behind\nit any permanent traces among settled civilised colonists, yet the\ncondition of things which it presents illustrates the social life of\nevery frontier settlement of the New World. Everywhere the colonisation\nof the outlying territory begins with a migration of males, and by and\nby the cry comes from Australia, Canada, and elsewhere, for stimulated\nfemale emigration. It is a state of things old as the dispersion of the\nhuman race, and typified in such ancient legends as the Roman Rape of\nthe Sabines. The abstract of the United States census of 1860 showed\nthat the old settled states of New England are affected even more than\nEuropean countries by this inevitable source of the disparity of the\nsexes. In Massachusetts, at that date, the females outnumbered the males\nby upwards of 37,000; while in Indiana, on the contrary, they fell short\nof the males by 48,000.\n\nIn the latter case, on a frontier state, where the services of the\nIndian women must necessarily be courted in any attempt at domestic\nlife, intermixture between the native and intruding races is inevitable,\nand the feeling with which it is regarded finds expression constantly\nthrough the genuine New World lyrics of Joaquin Miller, with his \u201cbrown\nbride won from an Indian town\u201d\u2014\n\n    Where some were blonde and some were brown,\n    And all as brave as Sioux.\n\nThus the same process still repeats itself along the widening frontier\nof the far West, which has been in operation on the American continent\nfrom the days of Columbus and Cabot. Hardy bands of pioneer adventurers,\nor the solitary hunter and trapper, wander forth to brave the dangers of\nthe prairie or savage-haunted forest, and to such, an Indian bride\nproves the fittest mate. Of the mixed offspring a portion cling to the\nfortunes of the mother\u2019s race, and are involved in its fate; but more\nadhere to those of the white father, share with him the vicissitudes of\nborder life, and cast in their lot with the first nucleus of a settled\ncommunity. As the border land slowly recedes into the further West, new\nsettlers crowd into the clearing; the little cluster of primitive\nlog-huts grows up into the city, perhaps the capital of a state, and\nwith a new generation the traces of Indian blood are well nigh\nforgotten. If any portion of the aboriginal owners of the soil linger in\nthe neighbourhood, they are no less affected by the predominant\nintruding race.\n\nThe transfer of the rich prairie lands of the great North-West from the\ncare of Hudson Bay factors and trappers, the organisation of it into the\nProvince of Manitoba, and the territories already in preparation for new\nprovinces, under the government of their own legislatures, has\nnecessarily brought to an end the condition of things so favourable to\nfriendly relations between the White and Red races. The region,\nmoreover, is now traversed by the Canadian Pacific Railway; and the\nherds of buffalo, on which the Indian mainly depended for his supplies\nof food, fur robes, and teepe skins, have finally disappeared. Railways,\ntelegraph lines, and other appliances of civilisation are equally\nincompatible with the existence of the wild buffalo and the wild Indian.\nThe former inevitably vanished from the scene. It remains to be seen if\nthe latter can adapt himself to the novel conditions of such an\nenvironment.\n\nAs some preparation for the inevitable revolution, the half-breeds,\nalready numbering thousands, accustomed to mingle on perfect equality\nwith the Whites, and trained in some partial degree to agricultural\nindustry, entered on the possession of farms allotted to them by the\nGovernment. But such a transitional stage, forced into premature\ndevelopment, could scarcely be expected to pass through all its\nrevolutionary stages without a conflict, and clashing of interests; and\nthe efforts of the Dominion Government to deal with this novel condition\nof things were only partially successful. But perhaps the most notable\nfeature in the results has been that the chief difficulty was, not with\nthe wild tribes transferred from the management of the fur-traders to\nthe direct jurisdiction of the Government, but with the half-breeds,\nclaiming civil rights, and jealously resenting encroachments on lands\nappropriated for their own settlement.\n\nThe reports of the Indian Department supply interesting glimpses of the\nprocess of adjustment with the various tribes of natives reluctantly\nyielding to the new condition of things. Returns made to an address of\nthe House of Commons at Ottawa, dated March 1873, disclose the\njealousies and suspicions of the native tribes, and the anxiety evinced\nby the Government officials to remove all just grounds of complaint. Mr.\nBeatty, a contractor for certain surveys on the Upper Assiniboine,\nreports that the Portage Indians, under their chief, Yellow Quill, had\nabsolutely forbidden any survey of their lands, and driven him and his\nparty off the field. The Lieutenant-Governor thereafter held an\ninterview with Yellow Quill and a party of his braves, and after a long\n_pow-wow_ succeeded in pacifying him. Again, a party of about two\nthousand Sioux are reported to have left in high dudgeon, with a threat\nto return in force next spring; and the Hon. Alexander Morris\u2014now\nLieutenant-Governor of Manitoba\u2014writes to the Provincial Secretary at\nOttawa, that \u201cThe Red Lake Indians on the American side have been\nsending tobacco to the Sioux in our territory, as it is believed, with\nthe view of common action with regard to the Boundary Survey.\u201d For the\nsettlement of provinces, and the surveying of the prairie for disposal\nto its new occupants, had necessitated the determination of a\nwell-defined boundary between the Canadian territories and those of the\nUnited States. Only a few years had elapsed since the State of Minnesota\nwas desolated by a cruel war, carried on by the Sioux at the\ninstigation, as was then affirmed, of Southern agents, with a view to a\ndiversion in favour of the South during the great Civil War. A large\nnumber of the Sioux have since crossed the boundary, and settled within\nthe British lines; and the Hon. Mr. Morris writes from Fort Garry in\nDecember last: \u201cSome of the Sioux assist the white settlers as labourers\nin the summer. They have asked for land, and were led to believe that\nthey would be assigned a reserve, and, if so, they would plant crops,\nand could then be removed from the settlement.\u201d But Mr. Morris specially\ndraws the attention of the provincial authorities to the excited state\napparent among all the Western tribes, and adds: \u201cI believe it to be in\npart created by the Boundary Commission. They do not understand it, and\nthink the two nations are uniting against them.\u201d The difficulties,\nhowever, were overcome; and the reports of the Indian agents contain\nsome curious illustrations of the difficulties inevitable in the first\nattempt at transforming wild Indian tribes into prairie farmers. One of\nthem thus writes: \u201cThe full demands of the Indians cannot be complied\nwith; but there is, nevertheless, a certain paradox in asking a wild\nIndian, who has hitherto gained his livelihood by hunting and trapping,\nto settle down on a reservation and cultivate the land, without at the\nsame time offering him some means of making his living. As they say\nthemselves: \u2018We cannot tear down the trees and build huts with our\nteeth, we cannot break the prairie with our hands, nor reap the harvest,\nif we had grown it, with our knives.\u2019\u201d But even among the wild tribes of\nthe prairies a great diversity in habits, and in aptitude for the new\nlife now forced upon them as their only chance of survival, is apparent.\nThe Portage Indians clung to their old status as hunters living in their\nbuffalo-skin lodges on the prairies; the St. Peter Indians form\npermanent settlements, not only of birch-bark wigwams, but many of them\nhave built log-houses for themselves. Even among the tribes already\nsettling down to steady agricultural labour, such as the Saulteux and\nthe Swampies of Manitoba, a very great difference both in sentiments and\ncustoms prevail. Thirty-four Indian families from one tribe in Pembina\nare reported by the agent as demanding their allocation of farms; the\nchiefs and headmen of other tribes are in negotiation for farming\nimplements, stock, etc., and some of their demands curiously illustrate\nthe form in which the new life thus opening up to them presents its most\ntempting aspects. Hoes, axes, and other indispensable implements have\nbeen readily granted to them. Ploughs, harrows, and oxen are in request,\nand have been conceded or promised where the Government agent is\nsatisfied that they will be turned to good account. But in special\ndemand is \u201ca bull and cow for each chief, and a boar for each reserve.\u201d\nThe incipient idea of the stock farm is indeed apparent in the universal\ndemand of all: \u201cA promise,\u201d says one of the agents, \u201cwhich the Indians\nnever omit to mention, that they shall be supplied with a male and\nfemale of each animal used by a farmer.\u201d But the transformation of the\nwild hunter into an industrious agriculturist is a difficult process;\nand even in the new generation, born under such changed conditions, the\nIndian boy shows much greater aptitude for mechanical employments; and\ntakes more readily to the work of the carpenter than to that of tilling\nthe soil, which, so long as the Indian was its lord, was practised\nexclusively by the women of the tribe.\n\nCould the older condition of interblended prairie life have been\nsufficiently long perpetuated, the results would far more fully have\npresented results in close analogy to the intermingling of Europe\u2019s\naboriginal and Aryan races in prehistoric times. A settlement begun by\nLord Selkirk in 1811, was formed on the Red River within the area now\nembraced in the Province of Manitoba. It consisted of hardy Orkney men\nand Sutherlandshire Highlanders; and on the amalgamation of the\nNorth-West and the Hudson Bay Companies, the settlement received\nconsiderable additions to its numbers. When at length the great fur\nCompanies\u2019 supremacy came to an end, the community numbered upwards of\ntwo thousand whites, chiefly occupied in farming, or in the service of\nthe Company. At a later date, another settlement was formed on the\nAssiniboine river, chiefly by French Canadians. In those, as at the\nforts and trading-posts of the Hudson Bay Company, the settlers\nconsisted chiefly of young men. They had no choice but to wed or cohabit\nwith the Indian women; and the result has been, not only the growth of a\nhalf-breed population greatly out-numbering the Whites, but the\nformation of a tribe of half-breeds, divided into two distinct bands,\naccording to their Scottish or French paternity, who kept themselves\ndistinct in manners, habits, and allegiance, alike from the Whites and\nthe Indians.\n\nThis rise of an independent half-breed tribe is one of the most\nremarkable results of the great, though undesigned, ethnological\nexperiment which has been in progress ever since the meeting of the\ndiverse races of the Old and New World on the continent of America; and\nwhen the peculiar circumstances which favoured this result came to an\nend, it became a matter of great interest to note the most striking\nphases presented by it, before they are effaced by the influx of\nEuropean emigration. I accordingly printed and circulated as widely as\npossible a set of queries relative to the Indian and half-breed\npopulation both of Canada and the Hudson Bay territory; and from the\nreturns made to me by Hudson Bay factors, missionaries, and others, most\nof the following results are derived. The number of the settled\npopulation, either half-breed or more or less of Indian blood, in Red\nRiver and the surrounding settlements was about 7200. The intermarriage\nthere has been chiefly with Indian women of the plain Crees, though\nalliances also occur with the Swampies (another branch of the Crees),\nand with Sioux, Chippeway, and Blackfeet women. But the most noticeable\ndifferences are traceable to the white paternity. The French half-breeds\nhave more demonstrativeness and vivacity, but they are reported to take\nless readily to the steady drudgery of the farm than those of Scotch\ndescent. But, at best, the temptations of a border settlement, with its\nbuffalo hunts and its chief market for peltries, were little calculated\nto develop the industrious habits of a settled community; and the\nintrusion of farmers from the old provinces, and immigrants from Europe,\nignorant of their habits and wholly indifferent to their interests,\nnecessarily interfered with the healthful process of transformation into\na settled industrious community of civilised half-breeds.\n\nSome of the results elicited by the inquiries are of value in their\nbearing on the question of mixed races, and the apparent tendency to\ndevelop permanent varieties; and all the more so as the data thus\nobtained show the condition of the North-West community immediately\nprior to the formation of the Province of Manitoba, and the inauguration\nof the revolution which inevitably followed in its train. The\nhalf-breeds are a large and robust race, with greater powers of\nendurance than the native Indian. Mr. S. J. Dawson, of the Red River\nExploring Expedition, speaks of the French half-breeds as a gigantic\nrace as compared with the French Canadians of Lower Canada. Professor\nHind refers in equally strong language to their great physical powers\nand vigorous muscular developments; and the venerable Archdeacon Hunter,\nof Red River, replied in answer to my inquiry: \u201cIn what respects do the\nhalf-breed Indians differ from the pure Indians as to habits of life,\ncourage, strength, increase of numbers, etc.?\u201d \u201cThey are superior in\nevery respect, both mentally and physically.\u201d Much concurrent evidence\npoints to the fact that the families descended from mixed parentage are\nlarger than those of the whites; and though the results are in some\ndegree counteracted by a tendency to consumption, yet it does not amount\nto such a source of diminution on the whole as to interfere with their\nsteady numerical increase. One of the questions circulated by me was in\nthis form: \u201cState any facts tending to prove or disprove that the\noffspring descended from mixed White and Indian blood fails in a few\ngenerations.\u201d To this the Rev. J. Gilmour answered: \u201cI know many large\nand healthy families of partial Indian blood, and have formed the\nopinion that they are likely to perpetuate a hardy race.\u201d The venerable\nArchdeacon Hunter, familiar with the facts by long residence as a\nclergyman of the Roman Catholic Church among the mixed population of the\nRed River Settlement, answered still more decidedly: \u201cThe offspring\ndescended from mixed White and Indian blood does not fail, but,\ngenerally speaking, by intermarriages it becomes very difficult to\ndetermine whether they are pure Whites or half-breeds.\u201d Living, however,\nfor many years among a people in whom the Indian traits are more or less\ntraceable, it is probable that Archdeacon Hunter is less attracted by\nthe modified, ample black hair, the large full mouth, and the dark,\nthough gentle and softly expressive eye, which strikes a stranger on\nfirst coming among any frontier population of mixed blood. The\nhalf-breeds also retain much of the reserved and unimpressible manner of\nthe Indian; though a good deal of intercourse with the native race has\nled me to the conclusion that this is more of an acquired habit than a\nstrictly hereditary trait: a piece of Indian education akin to certain\nhabits of social life universally inculcated among ourselves. When off\nhis guard, the wild Indian betrays great inquisitiveness, and when\nrelaxing over the camp-fire after a laborious day gives free play to\nmirth and loquacity.\n\nSo far, however, much that has been said applies to the mixed population\nof the Red River Settlement, living on a perfect equality with the white\nsettlers, and constituting an integral part of the colony. They are\nneither to be confounded with the remarkable tribe of half-breed\nhunters, nor with the Indians of mixed blood already described, on older\nCanadian reserves. Remote as this settlement has hitherto been from\nordinary centres of colonisation, and inaccessible except through the\nagency of the Hudson Bay Company, every tendency has been to encourage\nthe introduction of the young adventurer, trapper, or _voyageur_, rather\nthan the married settler. The habits of life incident to the fur trade\nmade the distinction less marked between the Indian and the white man;\nand thus a people of peculiar type grew up there as intermediate in\nhabits and mode of life as in blood from those of the old settled\nprovinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Much property is now possessed by\nmen of mixed blood. Their young men have in some cases been sent to the\ncolleges of Canada, and, after creditably distinguishing themselves,\nhave returned to lend their aid in the progress of the settlement. Thus\na favourable concurrence of circumstances in all respects tended to give\nample opportunity for testing the experiment of intermingling the blood\nof Europe and America, and raising up a civilised race peculiar to its\nsoil. With the rapid influx of emigrants; the settling of the prairie\nlands with a population of yeomen farmers; and the rise of villages and\ntowns along the railways and river highways; the ultimate absorption of\nthis half-breed population, and its merging into the homogeneous\ncommunity that will ultimately be fashioned out of a meeting of very\ndiverse settlers, is inevitable. Icelanders and Danes, Germans,\nRussians, Italians, French, Highland crofters, and Irish Celts, are all\nbeing interfused into the new community of which the half-breed element\nwill form no unimportant factor.\n\nBut a greater interest attaches to that other class of half-breeds\nalready alluded to, which the new order of things has inevitably tended\nto efface, though not necessarily to eradicate, as an element in the\npopulation of the future province. Besides the civilised race of\nhalf-breeds, mingling on a perfect equality with the Whites; brought up\nin many cases in full enjoyment of such domestic training as the Hudson\nBay factor and hunter could furnish in the wilderness; there remained\napart from them a half-breed race, the offspring born to native women as\nthe inevitable results of such a social condition as pertains to the\noccupants of the forts and trading-posts of that remote region. These\nhalf-breed buffalo hunters were wholly distinct from the civilised\nsettlers, and yet more nearly related to them than to the wild Indian\ntribes. They belonged to the settlement, possessed land, and cultivated\nfarms, though their agricultural labours were very much subordinated to\nthe claims of the chase, and they scarcely aimed at more than supplying\ntheir own wants. The two bands numbered in all between 6000 and 7000.\nEach division had its separate tribal organisation and distinct\nhunting-grounds, extending beyond the British American frontier. In 1849\nthe White Horse plain half-breeds on the Strayenne river, Dakota\nterritory, rendered the following returns to an officer appointed to\ntake the census: \u201c700 half-breeds, 200 Indians, 603 carts, 600 horses,\n200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat.\u201d This may illustrate the general\ncharacter of a people partaking of the nomad habits of the Indian, and\nyet possessed of a considerable amount of movable property and real\nestate. They are a hardy race, fearless horsemen, and capable of\nenduring the greatest privations. They have adopted the Roman Catholic\nfaith, and specially coveted the presence of a priest with them when on\ntheir hunting expeditions. The mass was celebrated on the open prairie,\nand was prized as a guarantee of success in the hunting-field. On such\nexpeditions, it has to be borne in view, they were not tempted by mere\nlove of the chase or by the prospect of a supply of game. Winter-hunting\nsupplies to the trapper the valued peltries of the fur-bearing animals;\nbut they depended on the summer and autumn buffalo hunts for the supply\nof pemmican, which furnished one of the main resources of the whole\nHudson Bay population. The summer hunt kept them abroad on the prairie\nfrom about the 15th of June to the end of August, and smaller bands\nresumed the hunt in the autumn. With this as the favourite and\nengrossing work of the tribe, it is inevitable that farming could be\ncarried on only in the most desultory fashion. Nevertheless, the\nseverity of the winter compelled them to make provision for the numerous\nhorses and oxen on which the summer hunt depended; and thus habits of\nindustry and forethought were engendered.\n\nThe half-breed hunters regarded the Sioux and Blackfeet as their natural\nenemies, and carried on warfare with them much after the fashion of the\nIndian tribes that have acquired fire-arms and horses; but they gave\nproof of their \u201cChristian\u201d civilisation by taking no scalps. In the\nfield, whether preparing for hunting or war, the superiority of the\nhalf-breeds was strikingly apparent. They then evinced a discipline,\ncourage, and self-control, of which the wild Sioux, Crees, or Blackfeet\nare wholly incapable; and they accordingly looked with undisguised\ncontempt on their Indian foes.\n\nSuch are some of the most noticeable characteristics of this interesting\nrace, called into being by the contact of the European with the native\ntribes of the forest and prairie. With so many of the elements of\ncivilisation which it is found so hard to introduce among the most\nintelligent native tribes, an aptitude for social organisation, and a\nthorough independence of all external superintendence or control, there\nseems no reason to doubt that here is an example of an intermediate\nrace, combining characteristics derived from two extremely diverse types\nof man, with all apparent promise of perpetuity and increase, if they\ncould have been secured in the exclusive occupation of the region in\nwhich they have originated. But the railway has traversed the trail of\nthe buffalo; and they have been compelled to make their choice between\nconformity to the industrial habits of agricultural settlers, or follow\nthe herds of the buffalo in search of some remote wilderness beyond the\nshriek of the locomotive and the hail of the pioneer immigrant.\n\nThe inevitable revolution was not permitted to be inaugurated without\nvery practical protest. The Red River Expedition of Sir Garnet Wolseley\nin 1870 was directed to put down a revolt of the half-breeds, under\ntheir leader, Louis Riel, resolute to oppose the intrusion of immigrant\nsettlers. The struggle was renewed in 1885 under the same leader, but\nwith the more legitimate grievance of neglected land claims, and the\nassertion of their rights to property in the prairie lands and on the\nriver fronts. They were encountered by a Canadian volunteer force;\nBatoche, their little urban stronghold, was captured; and the North-West\nrebellion was brought to an end. But it was freely acknowledged that,\npoorly armed and ill-provided with the indispensable requisites for\nmeeting a well-organised force of militia, under an experienced British\nsoldier, General Middleton, they displayed unflinching courage, and held\nout bravely against overwhelming numbers furnished with the deadly\nappliances of modern warfare.\n\nIt could not be supposed that the invasion of the western hemisphere by\nthe wanderers from the later homes of the Aryans beyond the Atlantic\ncould reproduce in all respects the old phenomena that marked the\ndisplacement of Europe\u2019s prehistoric races. But making due allowance for\nthe changes wrought on the Aryan stock by the civilising influences of\ntwenty centuries or more; and the consequent disparity between them and\nthe rude hunter tribes of the American forests and prairies; much\nremains to aid us in the interpretation of the past. Ethnological\ninvestigation and induction enable us to realise the condition of Europe\nwhen its thinly-dispersed population consisted of a dark-skinned race,\nsmall in stature, and, as we may conceive, with hair and eyes of\ncorresponding hue. Sepulchral deposits and the chance disclosures in\ntheir old cave-shelters have made us familiar with their physical form.\nTheir modern representatives survive on the outskirts of Europe\u2019s\ncivilised centres. Still more, their ethnical characteristics have been\nperpetuated by the very same process as may now be seen in progress in\nthe frontier states of America and the newest provinces of the Canadian\nDominion. Not only are the modern representatives of Europe\u2019s Allophyli\u00e6\nto be found among the Lapps, Finns, and the Iberians of Northern and\nWestern Europe; but everywhere in the British Isles, and throughout\nWestern Europe, the Melanochroic elements stand out distinctly from the\npredominant Xanthocroic stock, among a people unconscious of any\ndiversity of race. Here then we see evidences of the intermingling and\nthe partial absorption of the Australioid savage of prehistoric Europe\nby the later Xanthocroi, the product of which survives in the brunette\nof Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In Britain the\ncontrasting characteristics of the diverse ethnical elements attracted\nthe attention of Tacitus in the first century of our era. In Spain the\nIberian still preserves the evidence of an individuality apart from the\nIndo-European races in the vernacular Euskara, while a large Moorish\nelement in the southern portion of the peninsula perpetuates the results\nof another foreign intrusion and interblending of races within historic\ntimes.\n\nThe diversity apparent in some of the results of the meeting of\ndissimilar races in the Old World and the New, is due to the\ngeographical characteristics of the two hemispheres. Alike by sea and\nland, Europe could be entered by invading colonists, gradually, and at\nmany diverse points. Hence, the aggression of the higher races may be\nassumed to have begun while the difference between them and the\naborigines of Europe was much less than that which distinguishes the\nEuropean from the Bed Indian savage. The conquest would thus be\nprotracted over a period probably of many generations, and so would\ninvolve no such collisions as inevitably result in the destruction of\nsavage races when brought into abrupt contact with those far advanced in\ncivilisation.\n\nBut the peculiar relations of the frontier populations of the New World,\nand especially of the factors, trappers, and _voyageurs_ of the Hudson\nBay Company, with the native tribes, helped to create a partial equality\nbetween the civilised European and the savage, and so to beget results\nakin to those which have left such enduring evidences of the mingling of\ndiverse races in the population of Europe.\n\nThis accordingly suggests a question affecting the whole relations of\nBritish and European colonists generally to the native population of new\nlands settled and colonised by them. Not only English, Scotch, and\nIrish, but German, Norwegian, Icelandic, French, Polish, Russian, and\nItalian emigrants flock in thousands to the New World, merge in the\ncommon stock, and in the third generation learn to speak of themselves\nas \u201cAnglo-Saxon!\u201d The investigations of ethnologists have well-nigh put\nan end to the supposed purity of an Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Scandinavian\npopulation in all but the assumed purely Celtic areas of the British\nIslands; and the latest system of ethnical classification is based on\nthe recognition of the survival in the mixed population of modern\nBritain of a race-element which still perpetuates an enduring influence\nderived from aborigines of Europe anterior to the advent of Celt or\nTeuton. The power of absorption and assimilation of a predominant race\nis great; and ethnological displacement is no more necessarily a process\nof extinction now than in primitive times; though intermixture must ever\nbe most easily effected where the ethnical distinctions are least\nstrongly marked, and the conditions of civilisation are nearly akin.\n\nThe permanent survival of a disparate type in America perpetuating the\nevidences of the interblending of the Red and White races may be\ndoubted. That some ineffaceable results will remain I cannot doubt; but\nthe enormous disparity in numbers between the millions of European\nnationalities, and the little remnant of the native race brought in\ncontact with them, precludes the possibility of results such as have\nperpetuated in the modern races of Europe elements derived from some of\nits earliest savage tribes.\n\nIt has indeed been such a favourite idea with some physiologists that in\nthe undoubted developments of something like a distinct Anglo-American\ntype, there is a certain approximation to the Indian, that Dr.\nCarpenter, in his _Essay on the Varieties of Mankind_, lays claim to\noriginality in the idea \u201cthat the conformation of the cranium seems to\nhave undergone a certain amount of alteration, even in the Anglo-Saxon\nrace of the United States, which assimilates it in some degree to that\nof the aboriginal inhabitants.\u201d This he dwells on in some detail, and\narrives at what he seems to regard as an indisputable conclusion, that\nthe peculiar American physiognomy to which he adverts presents a\ntransition, however slight, toward that of the North American Indian.\nBut the long-cherished opinion, to which Dr. Morton gave currency, of\nthe existence of one special type of skull-form common to the whole\naborigines of America, has been abandoned by all who have given any\nattention to the evidence which Dr. Morton\u2019s own _Crania Americana_\nsupplies. I doubt if the idea of such an approximation of the\nAnglo-American to the Red Indian type would ever have occurred to a\nphysiologist of Canada or of New England, to whom abundant opportunities\nfor comparing the Indian and Anglo-American features, and of noting the\nactual transitional forms between the two, are accessible. But if such\nexamples can be clearly recognised, they may be assigned with\nprobability to a reverting to the type of some Bed ancestress whose\nblood is transmitted to a late descendant.\n\nBut it is otherwise with the millions of the Coloured race who now\nconstitute the indigenous population of the Southern States. They are at\nhome there in a climate to which the White race adapts itself with very\npartial success. The offspring of white fathers and of mothers of the\nAfrican races, they have multiplied to millions; and now with the\nrecently acquired rights of citizenship, and with the advantages of\neducation within their reach, the country is their own. The very social\nprejudices against miscegenation protect them from the effacing\ninfluences to which the Indian half-breed is exposed by ever recurrent\nintermarriage with the dominant race. As yet, there are discernible the\nvarious degrees of heredity from the Mulatto to the Quinteron. But the\nabolishing of slavery has placed the Coloured race on an entirely new\nfooting; and left as it now is, free to enjoy the healthful social\nrelations of a civilised community, and protected by the very prejudices\nof race and caste from any large intermixture with the White race, it\ncan scarcely admit of doubt that there will survive on the American\ncontinent a Melanocroi of its own, more distinctly separated from the\nWhite race, not only by heredity, but also by climatic influences, than\nthe \u201cdark Whites\u201d of Europe are from the blonde types of Hellenic,\nSlavic, Teutonic, or Scandinavian stocks.\n\n-----\n\n[148] _Reisen in Lykien_, etc., Vienna, 1889.\n\n[149] Vide _History of the Negro Race in America_. G. W. Williams.\n\n[150] _Science_, Feb. 13, 1891. A. F. Chamberlain.\n\n[151] See p. 290.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VIII\n                  RELATIVE RACIAL BRAIN-WEIGHT AND SIZE\n\n\nCONSISTENTLY with the recognition of the brain as the organ of\nintellectual activity, it seems not unnatural to assume for man, as the\nrational animal, a very distinctive cerebral development. One of the\nmost distinguished of living naturalists, Professor Owen, has even made\nthis organ the basis of a system of classification, by means of which he\nseparates man into a sub-class, distinct from all other mammalia. But\nwhile a comparison between man and the anthropoid apes, as the animals\nmost nearly approximating to him in physical structure, lends\nconfirmation to the idea not only that a well-developed brain is\nessential to natural activity, but that there is a close relation\nbetween the development of the brain and the manifestation of\nintellectual power; the distinctive features in the human brain, as\ncompared with those of the anthropomorpha, prove to be greatly less than\nhad been assumed under imperfect knowledge. The substantial difference\nis in volume. \u201cNo one, I presume,\u201d says Darwin, \u201cdoubts that the large\nsize of the brain in man, relatively to his body, in comparison to that\nof the gorilla or orang, is closely connected with his higher mental\npowers\u201d;[152] and it might not unfairly be reasoned from analogy, that\nthe same test distinguishes the intellectual man from the stolid, and\nthe civilised man from the savage. A careful study of the subject,\nhowever, shows some remarkable deviations from such a scale of\nprogression. Attention is indeed directed to greatly more ample proofs\nof inequality between the organic source of power and the manifestations\nof mental energy; as, for example, in the ant, with its cerebral ganglia\nnot so large as the quarter of a small pin\u2019s head, displaying instincts\nand apparent affections of wonderful intensity and compass. Viewed in\nthis aspect, \u201cthe brain of an ant is one of the most marvellous atoms of\nmatter in the world, perhaps more marvellous than the brain of man.\u201d\nHere, however, we look on elements of contrast rather than analogy; and\nseek in vain in this direction for any appreciable test of the soundness\nof the popular belief in the size of the brain as a measure of\nintellectual power. It is otherwise when we turn to the anthropomorpha.\nThere, alike in the scientific and in the popular creed, very special\nand exceptional affinities to man are admitted; and a careful study of\ntheir anatomical structure tends to increase the recognised points of\nanalogy.\n\nMr. Lockhart Clarke, in a contribution to Dr. Maudsley\u2019s work on the\nPhysiology and Pathology of Mind, gives a minute description of the\nconcentric layers of nervous substance which combine to form the\nconvolutions of the human brain; and of the forms and disposition of the\nvarious nerve-cells of which its vesicular structure consists. Comparing\nthe human brain with those of other animals, he says: \u201cBetween the cells\nof the convolutions in man and those of the ape tribe I could not\nperceive any difference whatever; but they certainly differ in some\nrespects from those of the larger mammalia: from those, for instance, of\nthe ox, sheep, or cat.\u201d[153] Apart from the difference in volume (55 to\n115 cubic inches), the only distinctive features, according to Professor\nHuxley, between the brain of the anthropomorpha and that of man, are\n\u201cthe filling up of the occipito-temporal fissure; the greater complexity\nand less symmetry of the other sulci and gyri; the less excavation of\nthe orbital face of the frontal lobe; and the larger size of the\ncerebral hemispheres, as compared with the cerebellum and the cerebral\nnerves.\u201d\n\nThe brain of the orang is the one which seems most nearly to approximate\nto that of man. In volume it is about 26 or 27 cubic inches; or about\nhalf the minimum size of a normal human brain. The frontal height is\ngreater than in that of other anthropomorpha; the frontal lobe is in all\nrespects larger as compared with the occipital lobe; and certain folds\nof brain-substance, styled \u201cbridging convulsions,\u201d which in the human\nbrain are interposed between the parietal and occipital lobes, also\noccur, though greatly reduced, in the brain of the orang; while they\nappear to be wholly wanting in the chimpanzee, the gibbon, and other\napes which superficially present a greater resemblance to man. Referring\nto the convolutions of the central cerebral lobe, Huschke says: \u201cWith\ntheir formation in the ape, the brain enters the last stage of\ndevelopment until it arrives at its perfection in man\u201d; and the higher\nclass of brains may be arranged between the extremes of poorly and\nrichly convoluted examples.\n\nBut it must not be overlooked that, apart from structural differences,\nrelative, and not absolute mass and weight of brain has to be\nconsidered, otherwise the elephant and the whale would take the foremost\nplace. \u201cThe brain of the porpoise,\u201d Professor Huxley remarks,[154] \u201cis\nquite wonderful for its mass, and for the development of the cerebral\nconvolutions\u201d; but it is the centre of a nervous system of corresponding\ncapacity, while as compared with the size of the animal, the brain is\nnot relatively large. Vogt states the weight of the human body to be to\nthe brain, on an average, as 36 to 1; whereas in the most intelligent\nanimals the difference is rarely less than 100 to 1.\n\nAssuming the existence of some uniform relation between the size of the\nbrain and the development of the intellectual faculties, along with\nwhatever is recognised as most closely analogous to them in the lower\nanimals, it might be anticipated that we should find not only a\ngraduated development of brain in the anthropomorpha as they approximate\nin resemblance to man; but, still more, that the progressive stages from\nthe lowest savage condition to that of the most civilised nations should\nbe traceable in a comparative size and weight of brain. Dr. Carl Vogt,\nafter discussing certain minor and doubtful exceptions, thus proceeds:\n\u201cWe find that there is an almost regular series in the cranial capacity\nof such nations and races as, since historic times, have taken no part\nin civilisation. Australians, Hottentots, and Polynesians, nations in\nthe lowest state of barbarism, commence the series; and no one can deny\nthat the place they occupy in relation to cranial capacity and cerebral\nweight corresponds with the degree of their intellectual capacity and\ncivilisation.\u201d[155] But the position thus confidently assigned to the\nPolynesians receives no confirmation from the evidence supplied by the\nmeasurements of Dr. J. B. Davis, in his _Thesaurus Craniorum_; and a\ncareful study of the subject reveals other remarkable deviations from\nsuch a scale of progression, not only in individuals but in races. To\nthese exceptional deviations, with their bearing on the comparative\ncapacity of races, the following remarks are chiefly directed. The\nlargest and heaviest brains do indeed appear, for the most part, to\npertain to the nations highest in civilisation, and to the most\nintelligent of their number. But this cannot be asserted as a uniform\nlaw, either in relation to races or individuals. The more carefully the\nrequisite evidence is accumulated, the less does it appear that the\nvolume of brain, or the cubic contents of the skull, supply a uniform\ngauge of intellectual capacity. In the researches which have thus far\nbeen instituted into the characteristics of the human brain among the\nlowest races, the development is in many respects remarkable; and, as\nwas to be expected, no organic differences between diverse races of men\nhave been traced.\n\nProfessor C. Luigi Calori has published the results of a careful\nexamination of the brain of a negro of Guinea. It presented the marked\nexcess of length over breadth so characteristic of the negro cranium;\nbut in other respects it corresponded generally to the fully developed\nEuropean brain. The distribution of the white and gray substances was\nthe same; the cerebral convolutions were collected into an equal number\nof lobes; and the only special difference was that the convolutions were\na little less frequently folded, and the separating sulci somewhat less\nmarked than in the average European brain. But even in those respects\nthe complication was great. The actual weight of the brain, according to\nProfessor Calori, was 1260 grammes, equivalent to 44.4 cubic inches. The\ncomplexity of convolution, and consequent extension of superficies of\nthe encephalon, appears to be an essential element in the development of\nthe brain as the organ of highest mental capacity; and to the cerebrum,\napparently, the true functions of intellectual activity pertain.\nProfessor Wagner undertook the measurement of the convex surface of the\nfrontal lobe in a series of brains. The heaviest, as a rule, had also\nthe greatest development of surface. But the two elements were not in\nuniform ratio. Some of the lighter brains presented a much greater\ndegree of convolution and consequent extent of convex superficies than\nothers which ranked above them in weight. It is thus apparent that in\nestimating the comparative characteristics of brains, various elements\nare necessary for an exhaustive comparison. Besides the functional\ndifferences of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and pons varolii, they have\ndifferent specific gravities, so that brains of equal weight may differ\nwidely in quality. Dr. Peacock, taking distilled water as 1000, gives\nthe values of the subdivisions of the brain thus: cerebrum, 1034;\ncerebellum, 1041; pons varolii, 1040. Again, Dr. Sankey states the mean\nspecific gravity of the gray matter of the brain in either sex as\n1034.6, and of the white matter as 1041.2. The variations from these\nresults, as given by Bastian, Thurnam, and others, are trifling. But it\nis significant to note that recent researches show that where greater\nspecific gravity of brain occurs in the insane, it appears to be limited\nto the gray matter.[156] Professor Goodsir maintained that symmetry of\nbrain has more to do with the higher faculties than bulk of form. It is,\nat any rate, apparent that two brains of equal weight may differ widely\nin quality.\n\nNevertheless, the popular estimate embodied in such expressions as \u201ca\ngood head,\u201d \u201ca long-headed fellow,\u201d and \u201ca poor head,\u201d like many other\npopular inductions, has truth for its basis. Up to a certain stage the\ngrowth of the brain determines the capacity of the skull. Then it seems\nas though more complex convolutions accompanied the packing of the\nelaborated cerebral mass within the fixed limits of its osseous chamber.\n\nA comparison of races, based on minute investigation of an adequate\nnumber of brains of fair typical examples, may be expected to yield\nimportant results; but in the absence of such direct evidence, the chief\ndata available for this purpose are derived from measurements of the\ninternal capacity of their skulls. Among English observers who have\ndevoted themselves to this class of observations, the foremost place is\ndue to Dr. J. Barnard Davis, who, in 1867, summed up the results of his\nextensive researches in a contribution to the Royal Society, entitled\n\u201cContributions towards determining the Weight of the Brain in different\nRaces of Man.\u201d[157] Inferior as such evidence must necessarily be, if\ncompared with the examination of the brain itself, nevertheless the\nnumber of skulls of the different races gauged unquestionably furnishes\nsome highly valuable data for ethnical comparison. The evidence,\nmoreover, is obtained from a source in some respects less variable than\nthe encephalon; and will always constitute a corrective element in\nestimating results based on direct examinations of the brain. Dr. Davis,\nindeed, claims \u201cthat the examination of a large series of skulls in\nascertaining their capacities and deducing from those capacities the\naverage volume of the brain, affords in some respects more available\ndata for determining this relative volume for any particular race than\nthe weighing of the brain itself.\u201d The defect is, that its most\nimportant results are necessarily based on the assumption of a uniform\ndensity of brain; whereas some notable ethnical differences, hereafter\nreferred to, may prove to be due to the fact that certain races derive\ntheir special characteristics from a prevailing diversity in this very\nrespect.\n\nBut the extensive observations of Dr. Davis, as of Dr. Morton, have a\nspecial value from the fact that each furnishes results based on a\nuniform system of observation; for the diverse methods and materials\nemployed by different observers in gauging the human skull have greatly\ndetracted from their practical value. In a communication by the late\nProfessor Jeffreys Wyman to the Boston Natural History Society,[158] he\npresented the results of a series of measurements of the internal\ncapacity of the same skull with pease, beans, rice, flax-seed, shot, and\ncoarse and fine sand. From repeated experiments he arrived at the\nconclusion that the apparent capacity varied according to the different\nsubstances used, so that the same skull measured respectively, with\npease 1193 centimetres, with shot 1201.8, with rice 1220.2, and with\nfine sand 1313 centimetres. Professor Wyman was led to the conclusion\nthat, for exactness, small shot, as employed latterly by Dr. Morton, is\npreferable to sand, were it not for its weight, which, in the case of\nold and fragile skulls, is apt to be destructive to them. With a view to\navoid the latter evil, Dr. J. B. Davis has used fine Calais sand of\n1.425 specific gravity. The diversity in apparent volume, consequent on\nthe employment of different substances in gauging the internal capacity\nof the skull, necessarily detracts from the value of comparative results\nof Morton, Davis, and others. But the elaborate measurements of their\ngreat collections of human crania furnish reliable series of data, each\nuniform in system, and sufficiently minute to satisfy many requirements\nof comparative craniometry and approximate cerebral development.\n\nWithout assuming an invariable correspondence in cubical capacity and\nbrain-weight, there is a sufficient approximation in the cubical\ncapacity of the skull and the average weight of the encephalon to render\nthe deductions derived from gauging the capacities of skulls of\ndifferent races an important addition to this department of comparative\nethnology. For minute cerebral comparisons, however, it is apparent that\nmuch more is required; and the special functions assigned to the various\norgans within the cranium have to be kept in view. Of these the medulla\noblongata, in direct contact with the spinal cord, is now recognised as\nthe centre of the vital actions in breathing and swallowing; and is\nbelieved also to be the direct source of the muscular action employed in\nspeech. Next to it are the sensory ganglia, arranged in pairs along the\nbase of the brain. To the cerebellum, which the phrenologist sets apart\nas the source of the emotions and passions embraced in his terminology\nof amativeness, philoprogenitiveness, etc., physiologists now assign the\nfunction of conveying to the mind the conditions of tension and\nrelaxation of the muscles, and so controlling their voluntary action.\nBut above all those is the cerebrum, or brain-proper, consisting of two\nlarge lobes of nervous substance, which in man are so large that, when\nviewed vertically, they cover and conceal the cerebellum. To this organ\nis specially assigned emotion, volition, and ratiocination. It is the\nassumed seat of the mind; and, in a truer sense than the skull\u2014\n\n    The dome of thought, the palace of the soul;\n\nif indeed it be not, to one class of reasoners, the mind itself. Certain\nit is that no acute disease can affect it without a corresponding\ndisorder of the functions of mind; and with this organ much below the\naverage size, intellectual weakness may always be predicated. But at the\nsame time, it is significant to note that the human brain, stinted in\nits full proportions, and reduced to a seeming equality with the\nanthropomorpha, exhibits no corresponding capacities or instincts in\nlieu of the higher mental qualities. Microcephaly is the invariable\nindex, not of mere limited intelligence and mental capacity, but of\nactual mental imbecility. If the augmentation of the brain of the\nanthropomorpha from 55 to 115 cubic inches be all that is requisite for\nthe transformation of the irrational ape into the reasoning man, it\nwould seem to be in no degree illogical to look for the accompaniment of\nthe inversion of the process by an approximation, in some instances, to\ncertain capacities and functions of the ape. But there are no\nindications of this. In some examples of microcephaly, the so-called\nanimal propensities do indeed manifest themselves to excess; but there\nis no reproduction of the animal nature, instincts, or capacities,\nanalogous to the scale of cerebral development of the orang or\nchimpanzee. A microcephalous idiot, who died at the age of twenty-two,\nin St. Bartholomew\u2019s Hospital, London, had a brain weighing only 13.125\noz., or 372 grammes. In describing this case, Professor Owen remarks:\n\u201cHere nature may be said to have performed for us the experiment of\narresting the development of the brain almost exactly at the size which\nit attains in the chimpanzee, and where the intellectual faculties were\nscarcely more developed. Yet no anatomist would hesitate in at once\nreferring the cranium to the human species.\u201d And so is it with the\nencephalon. The brain of the chimpanzee is a healthy, well-developed\norgan, adequate to the amplest requirements of the animal; whereas the\nmicrocephalous human brain is inadequate for any efficient, continuous\ncerebral activity: not merely limited in its range of powers. Much,\nhowever, may yet be learned from a careful attention to the imperfect\nmanifestations of activity in certain directions, in cases of\nmicrocephalic idiocy, and noting the predominant tendency in each case,\nwith a view to subsequent examination of the brain. By this means it may\nbe found possible to refer certain forms of mental activity to special\nvariations in the structure of the organ, or to distinct members of the\nencephalon.\n\nDr. Laennec exhibited to the Anthropological Society of Paris a\nmicrocephalous idiot of the male sex, aged fourteen years. \u201cThis child\nis entirely unconscious of his own actions, and his intellectual\noperations are very few in number, and very rudimentary. His language\nconsists of two syllables, _oui_ and _la_, and he takes an evident\npleasure in pronouncing them. He takes no heed in what direction he\nwalks. He would step off a precipice, or into a fire.\u201d Attention was\nspecially directed to the idiot\u2019s hands: \u201cThe thumbs are atrophied, and\ncannot be opposed to the other fingers. The palms of the hands have the\ntransverse creases, but not the diagonal\u2014the result of the atrophy of\nthe thumbs. Hence the hand resembles that of the chimpanzee. The\ndentition too is defective. Though fourteen years of age, the child has\nonly twelve teeth.\u201d Here it is curious to note the analogies in physical\nstructure to the lower anthropomorpha in other organs besides the brain,\nfor it only renders more striking the absence of any corresponding\naptitudes.\n\nDr. J. Barnard Davis, in his interesting monograph on _Synostotic Crania\namong Aboriginal Races of Man_, produces some remarkable illustrations\nof the effect of premature ossification of the sutures of the skull in\narresting the full development of the brain, and so rendering it unequal\nto the due performance of its functions. \u201cI have,\u201d he says, \u201cthe cranium\nof a convict who was executed on Norfolk Island, which I owe to the\nkindness of Admiral H. M. Denham. This man was executed there when that\nbeautiful isle was appropriated to the reception of the most dangerous\nand irreclaimable convicts from the other penal settlements. It is a\nmicrocephalic skull, rather dolichocephalic, of a man apparently about\nforty years of age. It exhibits a perfect ossification of the sagittal\nand of the greater portion of the lambdoidal sutures. The coronal suture\nis partially obliterated at the sides in the temporal regions, and can\nonly be distinguished by faint traces in all its middle parts. In this\ncase there has not been any compensatory development of moment in other\ndirections. The calvarium is not abridged in its length, which is 7.1\ninches, equal to 179 millimetres; probably it is a little elongated. It\nis, however, very narrow being only 4.8 inches, or 122 mm. at its widest\npart, between the temporal bones. So that the result is a very small,\ndwarfed, almost cylindrical calvarium. The internal capacity is only 59\nounces of sand,[159] which is equal to 71.4 cubic inches, or 1169 cubic\ncentimetres.\u201d Here is a skull considerably below the lowest mean of the\ncrania of any race in Morton\u2019s enlarged tables, or in the more\ncomprehensive ones furnished in Dr. Davis\u2019s _Thesaurus Craniorum_.\nAnother skull nearly approximating to it is that of a Cole, one of the\nsavage tribes of Nagpore, in Central India, who are said to go entirely\nnaked. It is described in the supplement to the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ as\nthat of \u201cChara,\u201d a Cole farmer, aged fifty, and its internal capacity is\nstated as 59.5 oz. av., equivalent to 71.7 cubic inches. The Coles\nappear to be small of stature. The heights of three of them, whose\nskulls are in the same collection, were respectively 5 ft. 5 in., 5 ft.\n2 in., and 5 ft., and the average internal capacity of five male skulls\nis only 66.6. The small stature in this and others of the native races\nof Central India, has to be taken into account in estimating the\nrelative size of the brain. But, after making all due allowance for\nthis, the Cole skulls are remarkable for their small size, being smaller\neven than the ordinary Hindoos of Bengal. Yet one of them, \u201cCootlo,\u201d\nwhose skull is among those included in the above mean, commanded a band\nof insurgents in the Porahant rebellion of 1858, and made himself a\nterror to the district.\n\nThe microcephalism of races, as well as of individuals, of small\nstature, must not be confounded with the true microcephaly of a dwarfed\nor imperfectly developed brain, which is invariably accompanied with\nmental imbecility. The Mincopies of the Andaman Islands are spoken of by\nProfessor Owen as \u201cperhaps the most primitive, or lowest in the scale of\ncivilisation, of the human race.\u201d[160] Mr. G. E. Dobson, in describing\nhis first visit to one of their \u201chomes,\u201d says: \u201cAlthough none of the\ntribe exceeded 64 inches in height, so that on first seeing them we\nthought the shed contained none but boys and girls, I was especially\nstruck by the remarkable contrast between the size of the males and\nfemales.\u201d[161] Dr. J. B. Davis has given, in the supplement to\n_Thesaurus Craniorum_, the dimensions of a male Mincopie skeleton in his\ncollection. The age he assumes to have been about thirty-five. The\ninternal capacity of the skull is 62 oz. (Calais sand), equivalent to\n75.5 cubic inches, and the entire height of the skeleton is 58.7 inches.\nIt belongs, says Dr. Davis, to a pigmy race, is small in all its\ndimensions, and is particularly small in the dimensions of the pelvis.\nOf their skulls, moreover, he adds, \u201cit is somewhat difficult to\ndetermine the sex with confidence. They are all small (but this is a\ncharacter of the race), they are delicate in development, and they have\nthat fulness of the occipital region, and smallness of the mastoid\nprocesses, which are marks of femininism.\u201d\n\nMr. Alfred R. Wallace connects the Mincopies with the Negritos and\nSemangs of the Malay peninsula, a dark woolly-haired race, dwarfs in\nstature. Dr. Davis says of the six Mincopie skulls in his collection,\nfour male and two female, as well as of others which he has seen: \u201cThey\nare all remarkably and strikingly alike, not merely in size but in form\nalso. They are all small, round, brachycephalic crania of beautiful\nform.\u201d Moreover, though classed as \u201clowest in the scale of\ncivilisation,\u201d the Mincopies betray no deficiency of intellect. The\nadmirable photographs which illustrate Mr. Dobson\u2019s narrative show in\nthe majority of them good frontal development. The brain is not, indeed,\nrelatively small. Their canoes are made of the trunk of a tree, hollowed\nout; and Mr. Dobson remarks: \u201cThe construction of their peculiar arrows\nand fish-spears with movable heads exhibits much ingenuity, and the use\nof no small reasoning power in adapting means to an end.\u201d\n\nWe are indeed too apt to apply our own artificial standards as the sole\ntest of intellectual vigour; whereas it is probable that in the amount\nof acquired knowledge and acuteness of reasoning many savage races\nsurpass the majority of the illiterate peasantry in the most civilised\ncountries of Europe. Mr. Wallace, in viewing the subject in one special\nlight, remarks: \u201cThe brain of the lowest savages, and, as far as we yet\nknow, of the prehistoric races, is little inferior in size to that of\nthe higher types of man, and is immensely superior to that of the higher\nanimals; while it is universally admitted that quantity of brain is one\nof the most important, and probably the most essential of the elements\nwhich determine mental power. Yet the mental requirements of savages,\nand the faculties actually exercised by them, are very little above\nthose of animals. The higher feelings of pure morality and refined\nemotion, and the power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception, are\nuseless to them; are rarely, if ever, manifested; and have no important\nrelations to their habits, wants, desires, and well-being. They possess\na mental organ beyond their needs.\u201d[162]\n\nHere, however, it may be well to guard against the confusion of two very\ndistinct elements. The higher feelings of pure morality and refined\nemotion are not manifestations of intellectual vigour in the same sense\nas is the power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception. It is not\nrare to find an English or Scottish peasant with little intellectual\nculture or capacity for abstract reasoning, but with an acutely\ninstinctive moral sense. On the other hand, among the criminal class, it\nis by no means rare to find examples of wonderfully vigorous\nintellectual power applied to the planning and accomplishing of schemes\nwhich involve as much foresight and skill as many a triumph of\ndiplomacy; but which at the same time seem to be nearly incompatible\nwith any moral sense. Moreover, it is needless to say that intellectual\nvigour and high moral principle are by no means invariable concomitants\nin any class of society; nor can they be traced to a common source. Mr.\nWallace recognises that \u201ca superior intelligence has guided the\ndevelopment of man in a definite direction, and for a special purpose\u201d;\nand such guidance involves much more than the mere evolution of a higher\nanimal organisation. But, appreciating as he does the difficulties\ninvolved in any acceptance of a theory of evolution which assumes man to\nbe the mere latest outgrowth of a development from lower forms of animal\nlife, Mr. Wallace points out that \u201cnatural selection could only have\nendowed savage man with a brain a little superior to that of an ape,\nwhereas he actually possesses one very little inferior to that of a\nphilosopher.\u201d\n\nYet neither Mr. Wallace, nor Professor Huxley when controverting this\nargument, withholds a due recognition of the activity of the intellect\nof the savage. No one indeed can have much intercourse with savage races\nwholly dependent on their own resources without recognising that, within\na certain range, their faculties are kept in constant activity. The\nsavage hunter has not merely an intimate familiarity with all the\ncapabilities and resources of many regions traversed by him in pursuit\nof his game; his geographical information includes much useful knowledge\nof the topography of ranges of country which he has never visited. I\nfound, on one occasion, when exploring the Nepigon River, on Lake\nSuperior, that my Chippeway guides, though fully 500 miles from their\nown country, and visiting the region for the first time, were\nnevertheless on the lookout for a metamorphic rock underlying the\nsyenite which abounds there; and they made their way by well-recognised\nland-marks to this favourite \u201cpipestone rock.\u201d While moreover the\nIndian, like other savages, is devoid of much of what we style \u201cuseful\nknowledge,\u201d but which would be very useless to him, he is fully informed\non many subjects embraced within the range of the natural sciences; and\nhas a very practical knowledge of meteorology, zoology, botany, and much\nelse which constitutes useful knowledge to him. He is familiar with the\nhabits of animals, and the medicinal virtues of many plants; will find\nhis way through the forest by noting the special side of the trunks on\nwhich certain lichens grow; and follow the tracks of his game, or\ndiscover the nests of birds, by indications which would escape the most\nobservant naturalist. The Australian savage, stimulated apparently to an\nunwonted ingenuity by the privations of an arid climate, is the inventor\nof two wonderfully ingenious implements, the _wommera_ or throwing\nstick, and the _bomerang_, which, when employed by the native expert,\naccomplish feats entirely beyond any efforts of European skill.\nMoreover, as Professor Huxley remarks, he \u201ccan make excellent baskets\nand nets, and neatly fitted and beautifully balanced spears; he learns\nto use these so as to be able to transfix a quartern loaf at sixty\nyards; and very often, as in the case of the American Indians, the\nlanguage of a savage exhibits complexities which a well-trained European\nfinds it difficult to master.\u201d Again he goes on to say: \u201cConsider that\nevery time a savage tracks his game he employs a minuteness of\nobservation, and an accuracy of inductive and deductive reasoning which,\napplied to other matters, would assure some reputation to a man of\nscience, and I think we need ask no further why he possesses such a fair\nsupply of brains. In complexity and difficulty, I should say that the\nintellectual labour of a good hunter or warrior considerably exceeds\nthat of an ordinary Englishman.\u201d Hence Professor Huxley is not prepared\nto admit that the American or Australian savage possesses in his brain a\nmental organ which he fails to turn to full account. But without\nentering on the questions of evolution and natural selection in all\ntheir comprehensive bearings, it is still apparent that the brain of the\nsavage is an instrument of great capacity, employed within narrow\nlimits.\n\nIn estimating the comparative size of the brain, it is seen to be\nnecessary to discriminate between individuals or races of small stature\nand cases of true microcephaly. On the other hand, it is not to be\noverlooked that examples of idiocy are not rare where the head is of a\nfair average size, and where the mental imbecility is regarded as\ncongenital. But in this as in other researches of the physiologist, he\nis limited in his observations mainly to the chance opportunities which\noffer for study; and not unfrequently the prejudices of affection arrest\nthe hand of the student, and prevent a _post-mortem_ examination in\ncases where science has much to hope for from freedom of investigation.\nHence the data thus far accumulated in evidence of the actual structure,\nsize, and weight, of the human brain fall far short of what is requisite\nfor a solution of many questions in reference to the relations between\ncerebration and mental activity. From time to time men of science have\nsought by example, as well as by precept, to lessen such impediments to\nscientific research. Dr. Dalton left instructions for a _post-mortem_\nexamination in order to test the peculiarity of his vision, which he had\nassumed to be due to a colouring of the vitreous humour; Jeremy Bentham\nbequeathed his body to his friend Dr. Southwood Smith, for the purposes\nof anatomical science; and the will of Harriet Martineau contained this\nprovision: \u201cIt is my desire, from an interest in the progress of\nscientific investigation, that my skull should be given to Henry George\nAtkinson, of Upper Gloucester Place, London, and also my brain, if my\ndeath should take place within such distance of his then present abode\nas to enable him to have it for purposes of scientific investigation.\u201d\nThe will is dated March 10, 1864; but by a codicil, dated October 5,\n1871, this direction is revoked, with the explanation which follows in\nthese words: \u201cI wish to leave it on record that this alteration in my\ntestamentary directions is not caused by any change of opinion as to the\nimportance of scientific observation on such subjects, but is made in\nconsequence merely of a change of circumstances in my individual case.\u201d\nThe natural repugnance of surviving relatives to any mutilation of the\nbody must always tend to throw impediments in the way of such\nresearches; though it may be anticipated that, with the increasing\ndiffusion of knowledge, such obstacles to its pursuit will be\ndiminished. Thus far, however, notwithstanding the persevering labours\nof Welcker, Bergmann, Parchappe, Broca, Boyd, Skae, Owen, Thurnam, and\nother physiologists, their observations have been necessarily limited\nalmost exclusively to certain exceptional sources of evidence, embracing\nto a large extent only the pauper and the insane classes; and in the\ncase of the latter especially, the functional disorder or chronic\ndisease of the organ under consideration renders it peculiarly desirable\nthat such results should be brought, as far as possible, into comparison\nwith a corresponding number of observations on healthy brains of a class\nfairly representing the social and intellectual status of a civilised\ncommunity.\n\nThe average brain-weight of the human adult, as determined by a numerous\nseries of observations, ranges for man from 40 oz. to 52\u00bd oz., and for\nwoman from 35 oz. to 47\u00bd oz. But some indications among ancient crania\ntend to suggest a doubt as to whether this difference in cerebral\ncapacity was a uniformly marked sexual distinction among early races;\ndue allowance being made for difference in stature. Dr. Thurnam made the\nrace of the British Long Barrows a special subject of study; and Dr.\nRolleston followed up his researches with valuable results. Amongst\nother points, he noted that the males appear to have averaged 5 ft. 6\nin., and the females 4 ft. 10 in. in height. But while the difference of\nstature between the male and the female exceeds what is observable in\nmost modern races, the variation in the size and internal capacity of\ntheir skulls appears to be less than among civilised races. The like\ncharacteristics are noticeable in the larger race of Europe\u2019s\nPal\u00e6olithic era. Nothing is more striking in the discovery of those\nancient remains of European man than the remarkable development of the\nskulls and the good brain capacity of the race of the pal\u00e6otechnic dawn,\nwhere man is proved, by his works of art and all the traces of his\nhearth and home, to have been still a rude hunter and cave-dweller. The\nCanstadt type of skull is assumed to be that of the earliest European\nrace of which traces have thus far been discovered; and it is\nunquestionably markedly inferior in development to that of the artistic\nTroglodytes of the French Reindeer period. Yet remarkable examples of\natavism, as in the skull of St. Mansuy, the missionary bishop of Toul,\nin Lorraine, in the fourth century, and in that of Robert the Bruce,\nshow a reversion to this early type, in accompaniment with exceptional\nintellectual capacity. The Neanderthal skull, an extreme example of the\nprimitive type, is pronounced by Professor Schaaffhausen to be the most\nbrutal of all human skulls; though this impression is mainly due to the\nabnormal development of the superciliary ridges, in which it undoubtedly\napproximates to the chimpanzee or the gorilla. But it has an estimated\ncapacity of 75 cubic inches, and a corresponding cerebral development in\nno degree incompatible with the idea that the remains recovered from the\nNeanderthal cave may be those of a skilled hunter; and one apt in the\ningenious arts of the primitive tool-maker.\n\nWhatever other changes, therefore, may have affected the brain as the\norgan of human thought and reasoning, it does not thus far appear that\nthe average mass of brain has greatly increased since the advent of\nEuropean man. Important exceptions have indeed been noted. Professor\nBroca\u2019s observations on the cerebral capacity of the Parisian population\nat different periods, based on nearly 400 skulls derived from vaults and\ncemeteries of dates from the eleventh or twelfth to the nineteenth\ncentury, appear to him to show a progressive cerebral development in\nthat centre of European civilisation.[163] But though the assumption is\nnot inconsistent with other results of civilisation, and is the\nnecessary corollary of the postulate that intellectual activity tends to\ndevelopment of brain, the fact that the crania presented a still greater\ndiversity in type than in size reminds us of the intermixture of races\non the banks of the Seine, and the consequent necessity for much more\nextended observations before so important a deduction can be received as\nan established truth.\n\nTaking the average brain-weight of the human adult as already stated,\nall male brains falling much below 40 oz. or 1130 grammes, and female\nbrains below 35 oz. or 990 grammes, may be classed as _microcephalous_;\nand all above the maxima of the medium male and female brain, viz. 52\u00bd\noz. or 1480 grammes, and 47\u00bd oz. or 1345 grammes, may be ranked as\n_megalocephalous_, or great brains.\n\nProfessor Welcker, who devoted special attention to the whole subject\nunder review, assumes another and simpler test when he says that skulls\nof more than 540 to 550 millimetres, or 21.26 to 21.65 inches in\ncircumference\u2014the weight of brain belonging to which is 1490 to 1560\ngrammes (52.5-55 oz. av.)\u2014are to be regarded as exceptionally large.\nBut while an excess of horizontal circumference may be accepted as\nindicating good cerebral capacity, it must not be overlooked that the\nadoption of it as the key to any definite or even approximate\nbrain-weight ignores the important elements of variation involved in the\ndifference between acrocephalic and platycephalic head-forms. The volume\nof brain in Scott, and probably in Shakespeare, appears to have depended\nmore on its elevation than its horizontal expansion. The same was also\nthe case with Byron. The intermastoid arch, measured across the vertex\nof the skull from the tip of one mastoid process to the other, furnishes\nan accurate gauge of this development. Of thirteen selected male English\nskulls in Dr. Davis\u2019s collection, the mean of this measurement is 15.1;\nand of thirty-nine male and female English skulls, it is only 14.4. Of\nthe whole number of eighty-one English skulls described in the\n_Thesaurus Craniorum_, three exceptionally large ones are: No. 123, that\nof an ancient British chief, of fully 6 ft. 2 in. in stature, from the\nGrimsthorpe Barrow, Yorkshire; No. 905, a calvarium of great magnitude,\nvery brachycephalic, and with the elevation across the middle of the\nparietals apparently exaggerated by compression in infancy, from Hythe,\nKent; and No. 1029, another male skull, remarkable alike for its size\nand weight, and with a peculiarity of conformation ascribed by Dr. Davis\nto synostosis of the coronal suture. The intermastoid arch in those\nexceptionally large skulls measures respectively 16.0, 16.2, and 16.9,\nwhereas the same measurement derived from the cast of Scott\u2019s head taken\nafter death, yields the extraordinary dimensions of 19 inches. This last\nmeasurement is over the hairy scalp. But after making ample allowance\nfor this, the vertical measurement of the skull and consequently of the\nbrain is remarkable.\n\nFull value has been assigned at all periods to the well-developed\nforehead. It is characteristic of man. The physiognomist and the\nphrenologist have each given significance to it in their respective\nsystems; and it has received no less prominent recognition from the\npoets. A fully developed forehead is assumed as distinctive of the male\nskull. But Juliet, in _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_, when depreciating\nher rival, exclaims, \u201cAy, but her forehead\u2019s low\u201d; and the jealous Queen\nof Egypt, in _Antony and Cleopatra_, is told of Octavia that \u201cher\nforehead is as low as she would wish it.\u201d \u201cThe fair large front\u201d of\nMilton\u2019s perfect man is the external index of an ample cerebrum: the\norgan to which the seat of consciousness, intelligence, and will is\nassigned. It is therefore consistent with this that a low, retreating\nforehead is popularly assumed to be the characteristic index of the\nsavage, and of the unintellectual among civilised races. But the\ncerebral characteristics of both ancient and modern civilised races have\nstill to be studied in detail; and the influence of race and sex on the\nform of the head and the mass and weight of the brain, involves some\ncurious questions in relation to the oldest illustrations of the\nphysical characteristics of man, and to the effect of civilisation on\nthe relative development of the sexes.\n\nEarly observations led Dr. Pruner-Bey and other ethnologists of France\nto recognise in certain ancient Gaulish skulls of a brachycephalic type\nthe evidences of a primitive race, assumed to represent the inhabitants\nof France and of Central Europe during its Reindeer period, and which\nappeared to be assigned with reasonable probability to a Mongol origin.\nBut in the Cro-Magnon cavern, and in other caves more recently explored,\nthe remains of a race of men have been brought to light markedly\ndolichocephalic, and no less striking in cranial capacity. Dr. Broca\nspeaks of these ancient cave-dwellers of the valley of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re as\ncharacterised by \u201csure signs of a powerful cerebral organisation. The\nskulls are large. Their diameters, their curves, their capacity, attain,\nand even surpass, our medium skulls of the present day. The forehead is\nwide, by no means receding, but describing a fine curve. The amplitude\nof the frontal tuberosities denotes a large development of the anterior\ncerebral lobes, which are the seat of the most noble intellectual\nfaculties.\u201d\n\nThis primitive race of hunters, marked by such exceptional\ncharacteristics, belonged to the remote Reindeer period of Western\nEurope, and was contemporary with the mammoth, the tichorine rhinoceros,\nand the fossil horse, as well as with the cave-lion, the cave-bear, and\nother long-extinct carnivora of Europe. The remarkable evidence of their\nintellectual capacity has already been reviewed, in considering the\nmanifestations of the artistic faculty among primitive races. Their\nweapons and implements, including carved maces or official batons, as\nthey are assumed to be, contribute additional evidence of skill and\nlatent capacity among a primitive race of hunters and cave-dwellers. Dr.\nBroca, after a consideration of the merits of their ingenious arts,\nsays: \u201cThey had advanced to the very threshold of civilisation\u201d; and Dr.\nPruner-Bey thus comments on their characteristics: \u201cIf we consider that\nits three individuals had a cranial capacity much superior to the\naverage at the present day; that one of them was a female, and that\nfemale crania are generally below the average of _male_ crania in size;\nand that nevertheless the cranial capacity of the Cro-Magnon woman\nsurpasses the average capacity of male skulls of to-day, we are led to\nregard the great size of the brain as one of the more remarkable\ncharacters of the Cro-Magnon race. This cerebral volume seems to me even\nto exceed that with which at the present day a stature equal to that of\nour cave-folks would be associated; whilst the skulls from the Belgium\ncaves are small, not only absolutely, but even relatively in the rather\nsmall stature of the inhabitants of those caves.\u201d\n\nThe Canstadt head is undoubtedly an unintellectual type suggestive of an\ninferior, though not necessarily an older savage race; for the evidence\nof climate, contemporary fauna, and other indices of the environments of\nthe Cro-Magnon cave-dwellers, all point to an early Post-Glacial era.\nDr. Isaac Taylor, in his _Origin of the Aryans_, assuming the priority\nof the Canstadt man, speaks of him as \u201cthis primitive savage, the\nearliest inhabitant of Europe.\u201d The forehead in this type is low and\nreceding, and the cerebral capacity generally correspondingly inferior.\nThe relative superposition in some discoveries of ancient human remains,\nas in the alluvium and gravels of a former bed of the Seine, at\nGrenelle, lends confirmation to the idea that in this poorly-developed\ncranial type we recover the physical characteristics of the earliest\ntype of the European savage thus far brought to light. But no disclosure\nof regular sepulture, or of implements or carvings assignable to him,\nhave hitherto furnished the means of determining his condition or mode\nof life.\n\nThe disclosures of the rock-shelters in the valley of the V\u00e9z\u00e8re are, on\nthe contrary, replete with interest, from the evidence they furnish of a\nrace of savage hunters, in whom ingenious skill and great artistic\naptitude gave evidence of latent intellectual capacity of a high order.\nThe remarkable size of crania accompanying those examples of primitive\nart seemingly pertaining to the Troglodytes of the Mammoth and Reindeer\nperiods of Central Europe, is the more significant from its bearing on\nthe evidence of progressive cerebral development adduced by Dr. Broca\nfrom skulls recovered from ancient and modern cemeteries of Paris. It\nappears, indeed, to conflict with any theory of a progressive\ndevelopment from the Troglodyte of the Post-Glacial age to the civilised\nFrenchman of modern times. Professor Boyd Dawkins has accordingly been\nat some pains in his _Cave Hunting_ to show that the conclusions formed\nby previous observers as to the epoch of their burial are not supported\nby the facts of the case; and he sums up his review of the whole\nevidence by expressing a conviction that he \u201cshould feel inclined to\nassign the interments to the Neolithic age, in which cave-burial was so\ncommon. The facts,\u201d he adds, \u201cdo not warrant the human skeletons being\ntaken as proving the physique of the pal\u00e6olithic hunters of the\nDordogne, or as a basis for an inquiry into the ethnology of the\npal\u00e6olithic races. Professor Boyd Dawkins also pronounces the same\ndoubts in reference to the equally characteristic male skeleton found in\na cave at Mentone, and to others obtained in the Lombrive and other\ncaves. It is not to be overlooked that the possibility of the intrusion\nof human remains into earlier strata constitutes an important element\nsuggesting caution in reasoning from such evidence. For the remains of\nman differ from those of other animals found in such series of deposits\nas mark a succession of periods, in so far as they pertain to the only\nanimal habitually given to the practice of interment. Human skeletons\nfound under such circumstances may have been artificially intruded long\nsubsequent to the accumulation of the breccia in which they lay.\nHappily, however, any doubts as to the contemporaneity of the human\nremains with the other cave relics has been removed by the discovery of\nskeletons, similar in type, in other caverns in the same valley\u2014and\nespecially in that of Laugerie Basse,\u2014in positions which seem to leave\nno room for questioning their being of the same age as the works of art\nfound along with them.\n\nOther examples of the ancient man of Europe show him in like manner\nendowed with a cerebral development in advance of the rudest races of\nmodern times. The skull found by Dr. Schmerling in the Engis cave, near\nLi\u00e8ge, along with remains of six or seven human skeletons, was embedded\nin the same matrix with bones of the fossil elephant, rhinoceros, hy\u00e6na,\nand other extinct quadrupeds. It is a fairly proportioned,\nwell-developed dolichocephalic skull; and, like others of the ancient\nhuman skulls of different types thus far found, has signally\ndisappointed the expectations of those who count upon invariably finding\na lower type the older the formation in which it occurs. \u201cAssuredly,\u201d\nsays Professor Huxley, \u201cthere is no mark of degradation about any part\nof its structure. It is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which\nmight have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the\nthoughtless brain of a savage.\u201d Even the famous Neanderthal skull, of\nuncertain geological antiquity, but pronounced to be \u201cthe most brutal of\nall human skulls,\u201d acquires its exceptional character, as already noted,\nchiefly from the abnormal development of the superciliary region.\n\n                 *        *        *        *        *\n\nIt is a universally accepted fact that the size of the male head and the\nweight of the brain are greater than those of the female. The average\nweight of the male brain is found to exceed that of the female by about\n10 per cent; or, as it is stated by Professor Welcker, the brain-weight\nof man is to that of woman as 100 to 90. But the difference of stature\nbetween the two sexes has to be taken into account. The average, based\non various series of observations to determine the mean stature for man\nand for woman, shows the latter to be about 8 per cent less than the\nformer; or, as Dr. Thurnam has stated it more precisely:\n\n           RATIO OF STATURE AND BRAIN-WEIGHT IN THE TWO SEXES\n\n                                                 MALE.  FEMALE.\n           Stature                                 100     92.0\n           Weight of brain                         100     90.3\n\nHere again, however, it becomes important to take into consideration\nother elements of difference besides weight; for, as Tennyson insists,\n\u201cWoman is not undevelopt man, but diverse.\u201d The results of Wagner\u2019s\nobservations on the superficial measurements of the convolutions of the\nbrain point to the conclusion that in the female the lesser brain-weight\nmay be compensated by a larger superficies. Ranked in the order of their\nrelative weights in grammes, six average brains of men and women were\nfound to stand thus:\u2014\n\n          1.  Male                                  (_a_)  1340\n          2.  Male                                  (_b_)  1330\n          3.  Male                                  (_c_)  1273\n          4.  Female                                (_d_)  1254\n          5.  Female                                (_e_)  1223\n          6.  Female                                (_f_)  1185\n\nBut the same brains, when tested by the degrees of convolution of the\nfrontal lobe, measured in squares of sixteen square millimetres,\nirrespective of the question of relative size, ranked as follows,\nadvancing the female (_d_) from the fourth to the first place, and\nreducing the male (_c_) from the third to the sixth place:\u2014\n\n          1.  Female                                (_d_)  2498\n          2.  Male                                  (_a_)  2451\n          3.  Male                                  (_b_)  2309\n          4.  Female                                (_f_)  2300\n          5.  Female                                (_e_)  2272\n          6.  Male                                  (_c_)  2117\n\nBut, as already indicated, some modern disclosures tend to raise the\nquestion whether the difference between the sexes, in so far as relative\nvolume of brain is concerned, has not been increased as a result of\ncivilisation. The disparity in size between the Cro-Magnon male and\nfemale skeletons is quite as great as that of modern times, but the\ncapacity of the female skull is relatively good.\n\nOther observations, such as those of Professor Rolleston \u201cOn the People\nof the Long Barrow Period,\u201d seem to indicate a nearer approximation in\nactual cranial capacity of the two sexes in prehistoric times than among\nmodern civilised races. On the assumption that intellectual activity\ntends to permanent development of brain, it is consistent with the\nconditions of savage life that it should bring the mental energies of\nboth sexes into nearly equal play. They have equally to encounter the\nstruggle for existence, and have their faculties stimulated in a\ncorresponding degree. As nations rise above the purely savage condition\nof the hunter stage, this relative co-operation of the sexes is\nsubjected to great variations. The laws of Solon with reference to the\nright of sale of a daughter or sister, and the penalties for the\nviolation of a free woman, show the position of the weaker sex among the\nGreeks at that early stage to have been a degrading one. But the change\nwas great at a later stage; and much of our higher civilisation is\ntraceable to the early establishment of the European woman\u2019s rights,\nwhich Christianity subsequently tended to enlarge. The position of woman\namong the ancient Britons appears to have been one of perfect equality\nwith man. Among the Arabians and other Mohammedan nations, including the\nmodern Turks, the opposite is the case; and the whole tendency of the\ncreed of the Koran, and the social life among Mohammedan nations, must\nbe towards the intellectual atrophy of woman. Hence it is consistent\nwith the diverse conditions of life that, in so far as cerebral\ndevelopment is the result of mental activity, a much closer\napproximation is to be looked for in the mass and weight of brain in the\ntwo sexes among savage races, than among nations where woman\nsystematically occupies a condition of servile degradation, or of\npassive inertness.\n\n                 *        *        *        *        *\n\nSome interesting results of the actual brain-weights of Negroes and\nother typical representatives of inferior savage races have been\npublished, including examples of both sexes; and although the\nobservations are as yet too few for the deduction of any absolute or\nvery comprehensive conclusions, they furnish a valuable contribution\ntowards this department of ethnical comparison. In 1865, Dr. Peacock\npublished the results of observations on the brains of four Negroes and\ntwo Negresses; and to those he subsequently added a seventh\nexample.[164] Others are included in the following table. But I have\nexcluded some extremes of variation, such as the two given by Mascagni,\none of which weighed 1458 grammes, or 51.5 oz. av., and the other only\n738 grammes, or 26.1 oz. av. In addition to such actual brain-weights,\nMorton, Tiedemann, Davis, Wyman, and others, have gauged the skulls of\nNegroes, American Indians, Mincopies, Tasmanians, Australians, and other\nsavage races, as well as those of many civilised and semi-civilised\nnations, and thereby contributed valuable data towards determining their\nrelative cranial capacity. In his _Crania \u00c6gyptiaca_, Dr. Morton, when\ndiscussing the traces of a Negro element in the ancient Egyptian\npopulation, says: \u201cI have in my possession seventy-nine crania of\nNegroes born in Africa, for which I am indebted to Drs. Goheen and\nM\u2019Dowell, lately attached to the medical department of the colony of\nLiberia, in Western Africa; and especially to Don Jose Rodriguez\nCisneros, M.D., of Havana, in the island of Cuba. Of the whole number,\nfifty-eight are adult, or sixteen years of age and upwards, and give\neighty-five cubic inches for the average size of the brain. The largest\nhead measures ninety-nine cubic inches; the smallest but sixty-five. The\nlatter, which is that of a middle-aged woman, is the smallest adult head\nthat has hitherto come under my notice.\u201d[165]\n\n                                TABLE I\n\n                           NEGRO BRAIN-WEIGHT\n\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n      \u2502                                    \u2502                    \u2502\n Sex. \u2502               Race.                \u2502     Authority.     \u2502Weight.\n      \u2502                                    \u2502                    \u2502\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n      \u2502                                    \u2502                    \u2502\n  M.  \u2502African,        Mozambique          \u2502Peacock             \u2502 43.80\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 45.80\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e            Buenos Ayres        \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 44.00\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e            Congo               \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 46.25\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 42.80\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502S\u0153mmering           \u2502 45.40\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502 35.20\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e            Congo               \u2502C. Luigi Calori     \u2502 44.40\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502Barkow              \u2502 50.80\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 45.90\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 38.90\n  M.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502Sir A. Cooper       \u2502 49.00\n  F.  \u2502Hottentot Venus                     \u2502Marshall            \u2502 31.00\n  F.  \u2502Bushwoman                           \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 30.75\n  F.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 31.50\n  F.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 31.00\n  F.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502Flower and Murie    \u2502 38.00\n  F.  \u2502African                             \u2502Peacock             \u2502 46.00\n  F.  \u2502   \u201e                                \u2502   \u201e                \u2502 41.00\n      \u2502                                    \u2502                    \u2502\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe influence of race on the volume, weight, disposition, and relative\nproportions of the different subdivisions of the human brain, and so of\nbrain on the character of races, has thus far been very partially\ntested. But the diversities of race head-forms\u2014brachycephalic,\ndolichocephalic, platycephalic, acrocephalic, etc.\u2014are now\nwell-recognised, though their relation to cerebral development still\nrequires much research for its elucidation. The ancient Roman forehead,\nas illustrated by classic busts, and confirmed by genuine Roman skulls,\nwas low but broad, and the whole head was platycephalic. The Greek had a\nhigh forehead, and the works of the Greek sculptors show that this was\nregarded as typical. But contemporary with the classic races were the\nMacrocephali of the Euxine and the Caspian Seas, who, like many modern\ntribes of the New World, purposely aimed at depressing a naturally\nreceding forehead, and thereby exaggerated the typical forehead\ncharacteristic of certain ancient barbaric races.\n\nIn the case of hybrids the interchange of physical and mental\ncharacteristics of the parents, including modifications of head-form, is\na familiar fact. The English head-form appears to be an insular product\nof intermingled Briton, Teuton, and Scandinavian elements, which has no\ncontinental analogue; and its subdivisions, or sub-types, vary with the\nethnical intermixture. The Scottish head appears to exceed the English\nin length, while the latter is higher. Where the Celtic element most\npredominates, the longer form of head is found; but even in the most\nTeutonic districts the difference between the prevailing head-form and\nthat of the continental German is so marked that the latter finds it\ndifficult to obtain an English-made hat which will fit his head.[166]\nHere the diversities of head-form are accompanied with no less marked\ndifferences of individual and national character.\n\nProfessor Welcker determined the average capacity of the German male\nskull as 1450 cubic centimetres, equivalent to 88 cubic inches, and\nrepresenting an average brain-weight of 49 oz. Dr. Davis, by a similar\nprocess, assigns to the Germans, male and female, the larger mean\nbrain-weight of 50.28 oz.; but by combining the means of both sexes, as\nderived from his own tables and those of Huschke and Wagner, we obtain a\nmean weight of German brain of 1314 grms., or 46.37 oz. The results of\nan extensive series of observations by Dr. Broca, on the male French\nskull, yield a mean capacity of 1502 cubic centimetres, or 91 cubic\ninches, representing an average brain-weight of 50.6 oz. Morton, taking\nhis average from five English skulls, gives the great internal capacity\nof 96 cubic inches; while Davis arrives at a capacity of only 90.9 cubic\ninches from the examination of thirty-two skulls, male and female; and\nfor the Scottish and Irish, each of 91.2 cubic inches, from an\nexamination of thirty-five skulls. But unfortunately the Davis\ncollection, so rich in other respects, derived its chief English\nspecimens from a phrenological collection; and, along with a few large\nskulls, contains \u201cmany small and poor English examples.\u201d[167] The\naverage weight of the English brain may therefore, as Dr. Davis admits,\nbe assumed to be higher than the mean determined by him. \u201cStill a\ncomparison with actually tested weights of brains shows that there\ncannot be any material error.\u201d The average brain-weight of twenty-one\nEnglishmen, as given by him, is 50.28 oz., that of thirteen women is\n43.13; and of the combined series, 47.50. The results determined by the\nsame process in relation to the other nationalities of Europe are\nexhibited in detail in Dr. Davis\u2019s tables, printed in the _Philosophical\nTransactions_.\n\nSuch averages are, at best, only approximations to true results; and\nwhen obtained, as in Morton\u2019s English race, from a very few examples, or\nin Davis\u2019s, from exceptional skulls, collected under peculiar\ncircumstances or for a special purpose, they must be tested by other\nobservations. According to Dr. Morton, for example, the mean internal\ncapacity of the English head is 96 cubic inches, while that of the\nAnglo-American is only 90 cubic inches. Such a conclusion, if\nestablished as the result of comparison of a sufficiently large number\nof well-authenticated skulls, would be of great importance in its\nbearing on the influence of change of climate, diet, habits, etc., as\nelements affecting varieties of the human race. But determined as it was\nin the Morton collection, from five English and seven Anglo-American\nspecimens, it can be regarded as little more than a mere chance result.\nRanged nearly in the order of mean internal capacity of skull, the\nfollowing are the results arrived at, mainly by gauging the skulls in\nvarious collections available for such comparisons of different races of\nmankind. In presenting them here, I avail myself of Dr. Thurnam\u2019s\nresearches, augmenting them with other data subsequently published,\nincluding results deduced from Dr. Davis\u2019s minute reports of his own\nextensive collections, and taking Tiedemann\u2019s capacity of 92.3 for the\nEuropean skull as 100.\n\n                                TABLE II\n\n         RATIO OF CUBICAL CAPACITY OF SKULLS OF DIFFERENT RACES\n\n           \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                               \u2502                    \u2502\n                  Race.        \u2502     Authority.     \u2502Capacity.\n                               \u2502                    \u2502\n           \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                               \u2502                    \u2502\n           European            \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502  100.0\n           Asiatic             \u2502Davis               \u2502   94.3\n           African             \u2502   \u201e                \u2502   93.0\n           American            \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502   95.0\n              \u201e                \u2502Davis               \u2502   94.7\n              \u201e                \u2502Morton              \u2502   87.0\n           Oceanic             \u2502Davis               \u2502   96.9\n           Chinese             \u2502   \u201e                \u2502   99.8\n           Mongol              \u2502Morton              \u2502   94.0\n              \u201e                \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502   93.0\n           Hindoo              \u2502Davis               \u2502   89.4\n           Malay               \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502   89.0\n           American Indian     \u2502Morton              \u2502   91.0\n           Esquimaux           \u2502Davis               \u2502   98.8\n           Mexican             \u2502Morton              \u2502   88.5\n           Peruvian            \u2502Wyman               \u2502   81.2\n              \u201e                \u2502Morton              \u2502   81.2\n           Negro               \u2502Tiedemann           \u2502   91.0\n              \u201e                \u2502Peacock             \u2502   88.0\n           Hottentot           \u2502Morton              \u2502   86.0\n           Javan               \u2502Davis               \u2502   94.8\n           Tasmanian           \u2502   \u201e                \u2502   88.0\n           Australian          \u2502Morton              \u2502   88.0\n              \u201e                \u2502Davis               \u2502   87.9\n                               \u2502                    \u2502\n           \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe tables of Dr. Morton and Dr. Davis furnish materials for drawing\ncomparisons between diverse nations of the great European family; but\nthough they are of value as contributions to the required means for\nethnical comparison, they fall far short of determining the average\ncranial capacity of the different nationalities. Whilst, for example,\nthe tabular data in the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ show a mean internal\ncapacity of 94 cubic inches for the combined Teutonic family, the Finns\nyield the higher mean capacity of 96.3 cubic inches. Again, Dr. Thurnam\nfound that the results of the weighing of fifty-nine brains of patients\nat the Friends\u2019 Retreat near York, mostly persons of the middle class of\nsociety, yielded weights considerably above those which he subsequently\nobtained from testing those of pauper patients in Wilts and Somerset.\nBut this has to be estimated along with the undoubted ethnical\ndifferences which separate the population of Yorkshire from that of\nSomerset and Wiltshire. An interesting paper in the West-Riding Asylum\nReports gives the results of the determination of 716 brain-weights,\nrather more than half being males. The average is 48.149 oz. for the\nmale, and 43.872 for the female brain; whereas the average weights of\n267 male brains of a similar class of patients in the Wilts County\nAsylum, as given by Dr. Thurnam, is 46.2 oz., and of 213 female brains,\n41.0 oz. The results of the observations carried on by Dr. Boyd at St.\nMarylebone yield, from 680 male English brains, a mean weight of 47.1\noz., and from 744 female brains a mean weight of 42.3 oz.; whereas Dr.\nPeacock determined, from 183 cases in the Edinburgh Infirmary, the\nweight of the male Scottish brain to average 49.7, and that of the\nfemale brain to average 44.3 oz. Here the results are determined by so\nnumerous a series that they might be accepted as altogether reliable,\nwere it not that in the former case they are based to a large extent on\na purely pauper class; whereas the patients of the Royal Infirmary of\nEdinburgh include respectable mechanics and others from many parts of\nScotland, among whom education is common. It is not to be doubted,\nindeed, that a considerable difference in the form and size of the head,\nand no doubt also in brain-weight, is to be looked for amongst English,\nScotch, Irish, German and French men and women, according to the county\nor province of which they are natives, and the class of society to which\nthey belong.\n\nThe comparative ratio of the cubical capacity of the skull, or the\naverage brain-weight, in so far as either is indicative of ethnical\ndifferences among members of the European family of nations, has thus to\nbe determined by numerous examples; or dealt with in detail in reference\nto the different nationalities. Even in single provinces or counties,\nsocial position, and probably education, must be taken into account; so\nthat a series of observations on hospital and pauper patients may be\nexpected to fall below the general average; and fallacious comparisons\nbetween European peoples may be based on data, correct enough _per se_,\nbut unjust when placed alongside of a different class of results. The\ngreat mass of evidence in reference to brain-weight has thus far been\nmainly derived, in the case of the sane, from one rank of life. A\ncomparison of the results with those derived from the insane of various\nclasses of society shows less discrepancy than might have been\nanticipated. But there are certain cases of hydrocephalous and other\nabnormally enlarged brains which have to be rigorously excluded from any\nestimate of the size or weight of the brain, either as a race-test or as\nan index of comparative mental power.\n\nWere it possible to select from among the great intellects of all ages\nan adequate series of representative men, and ascertain their\nbrain-weights, or even the cubical capacity of their skulls, one\nimportant step would be gained towards the determination of the relation\nbetween size of brain and power of intellect. But we have little other\ndata than such hints as the busts of \u00c6schylus, Pericles, Socrates,\nPlato, Aristotle, and other leaders of thought may supply. Malcolm\nCanmore\u2014Malcolm of the great head, as his name implied,\u2014stands forth\nwith marked individuality from out the shadowy roll of names which\nfigure in early Scottish history. Charlemagne, we should fancy, merited\na similar designation. But the portraits of his modern imperial\nsuccessor, Charles V., show no such loftiness of forehead. Judging from\nthe portraits and busts of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Cromwell,\nNapoleon, and Scott, their brains must have considerably exceeded the\nordinary size. In the report of the _post-mortem_ examination of Scott,\nthe physicians state that \u201cthe brain was not large.\u201d But this, no doubt,\nmeans relatively to the internal capacity of the skull in its then\ndiseased condition. The intermastoid arch, as already noted, shows a\nremarkably exceptional magnitude of 19 inches, whereas the average of\nfifty-eight ancient and modern European skulls, as given in the\n_Thesaurus Craniorum_, is only 14.60. The portraits of Wordsworth and\nByron show an ample forehead; and the popular recognition of the \u201cfair\nlarge front\u201d of Milton\u2019s typical man as the index of superior intellect\nis an induction universally accepted. But, on the other hand, examples\nof intellectual greatness undoubtedly occur with the brain little, if at\nall, in excess of the average size. On the discovery of Dante\u2019s remains\nat Ravenna in 1865, the skull was pronounced to be ample, and exquisite\nin form. But its actual cubical capacity and estimated brain-weight fall\nconsiderably below those of the highest ascertained brain-weights of\ndistinguished men. Again, looking at the casts of the skulls of Robert\nthe Bruce and the poet Burns, the first impression is the comparatively\nsmall size of head, and the moderate frontal development in each. Robert\nListon, the eminent surgeon, remarked of the former: \u201cThe division of\nthe cranium behind the meatus auditorius is large in proportion to that\nsituated before it. The skull is also remarkably wide and capacious in\nthat part, whereas the forehead is rather depressed\u201d;[168] and more\nrecent observers have not hesitated to recognise in it a reversion to\nthe Canstadt type of the primitive European savage. Other\ncharacteristics so markedly indicate the elements of physical rather\nthan intellectual vigour, that Liston expressly pointed out the analogy\nto \u201cthe heads of carnivorous animals.\u201d The Bruce was indeed\npre-eminently distinguished for courage and deeds of personal prowess;\nbut it was no less by statesmanlike qualities, calm, resolute\nperseverance, and wise prudence, that he achieved the independence of\nhis country.\n\nGeorge Combe, the phrenologist, to whom the original cast of Burns\u2019s\nskull was first submitted, thus states the case in reference to the\nfrontal development of the poet: \u201cAn unskilful observer looking at the\nforehead might suppose it to be moderate in size; but when the\ndimensions of the anterior lobe, in both length and breadth, are\nattended to, the intellectual organs will be recognised to have been\nlarge. The anterior lobe projects so much that it gives an appearance of\nnarrowness to the forehead which is not real.\u201d[169] The actual\ndimensions of the skull are, longitudinal diameter, 8 inches; parietal\ndiameter, 5.95; and horizontal circumference, 22.25.\n\nIn the year 1865 the bones of Italy\u2019s greatest poet, Dante, were\nsubmitted to a minute examination under the direction of commissioners\nappointed by the Italian Government to verify the discovery; and careful\nmeasurements were taken of the skull. Dr. H. C. Barlow, describing it\nfrom personal observation, says: \u201cThe head was finely formed, and the\ncranium showed, by its ample and exquisite form, that it had held the\nbrain of no ordinary man. It was the most intellectually developed head\nthat I ever remember to have seen. The occipital region was prominently\nmarked, but the frontal was also amply and broadly expanded, and the\nanterior part of the frontal bone had a vertical direction in relation\nto the bones of the face\u201d (_Athen\u00e6um_, September 9, 1865). But however\nintellectually developed and exquisite in form the poet\u2019s skull may have\nappeared, the actual measurements fall short of the amplitude here\nassigned to it. The dimensions are as follows: Internal capacity,\ndetermined by filling the calvarium with grains of rice, 3.1321 lbs.\nav., or a little over 50 oz.; circumference, 52 cent. 5 mill.;\noccipito-frontal diameter, 31 cent. 7 mill.; transverse diameter, taken\nbetween the ears, 31 cent. 8 mill.; height, 14 cent. If the internal\ncapacity is accepted without any correction, it would yield 57 oz., but\nif allowance be made, as in the actual weighing of the brain, for the\nabstraction of the dura mater and fluids, of say 8 per cent, this would\nreduce it to about 52.5, or nearly the same weight as that of the\nmathematician, Gauss. Professor Welcker deducts from 11.6 to 14 per\ncent, according to the size of the skull; Dr. J. B. Davis recommends a\nuniform deduction of 10 per cent. If we apply the latter rule, it will\nreduce the estimated weight of Dante\u2019s brain to 51.3 oz.[170]\n\nAnother interesting example of the skull of an Italian poet is that of\nUgo Foscolo, a cast of which was taken on the transfer of his remains to\nthe Church of Santa Croce at Florence. Though only fifty years old at\nthe time of his death, the skull was marked by \u201cthe entire ossification\nof the coronal, sagittal, and lambdoidal sutures, and that atrophy of\nthe outer table, manifested by a depression on each side in the\nposterior half of each parietal, leaving an elevated ridge in the\nmiddle, in the position of the sagittal, which is but rarely observed\nexcept in extremely advanced age.\u201d[171] Sir Henry Holland, who knew the\npoet intimately, describes him as resembling in temperament the painter\nFuseli, \u201cpassionately eccentric in social life.\u201d Full of genius and\noriginal thought, as the writings of Foscolo show him to have been, he\n\u201cwas fiery and impulsive, almost to the verge of madness.\u201d[172] He died\nin England in obscurity and neglect; but a regenerated Italy recalled\nthe memory of her lost poet, and transferred his remains to Santa\nCroce\u2019s consecrated soil. The estimated size of his brain is given as\n1426 cubic cents., equivalent to 87 cubic inches internal capacity,\nwhich corresponds to a weight of brain of 48.44 oz. The longitudinal\ndiameter is 6.90; the parietal diameter 5.70; the intermastoid arch\n15.0; and the horizontal circumference 520 mm., or 20.5 inches. The\nbrain capacity of the poet was thus little more than the European mean\ndeduced by Morton from the miscellaneous examples in his collection.\n\nDr. J. C. Gustav Lucae, in his _Zur Organischen Formenlehre_, furnishes\nviews and measurements of two other skulls of men of known intellectual\ncapacity. One of these is Johan Jacob Wilhelm Heinse, the author of\n_Ardinghello_, a work of high character in the elements of \u00e6sthetic\ncriticism, though as a romance fit to rank with _Don Juan_ in subjective\nsignificance and morality. He wrote another romance entitled\n_Hildegard_; in addition to numerous articles and translations of\nPetronius, Tasso, etc., which won for him the high commendation of\nGoethe, and the more guarded admiration of Wieland. His skull, as\nfigured by Dr. Lucae, shows the frontal suture still open at the age of\nfifty-three, at which he died. The internal capacity of the skull is\nstated as 41.4 oz., equivalent to 1173 grms. In this, as in other\nexamples hereafter referred to, Dr. Lucae has gauged the capacity of the\nskull with peas, and gives the weight in \u201cunzen.\u201d In the results deduced\nfrom them here the _unzen_ are assumed to be Prussian ounces, the lb. of\n12 oz. equal to 350.78348 grms. As already noted, the determination of\nthe internal capacity of the skull by varying tests, such as pease,\nrice, and sands of diverse degrees of fineness, leads to uncertain\nresults. In those here deduced from the data furnished by Dr. Lucae, the\nunzen have been tested by a series of experiments made with a view to\ncorrect the error necessarily resulting from the fact that peas do not\nentirely fill the cavity. The results show that 82.5 grms. of ordinary\nsized peas occupy the space of 100 grms. of water. Deducting 10 per cent\nfor membranes and fluids, the estimated brain-weight of Heinse is 1379\ngrms. or 48.7 oz. av. The dimensions of the skull are given thus:\u2014\n\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n                            \u2502 Height.  \u2502 Length.  \u2502 Breadth.\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             Fore part      \u2502   4.9    \u2502   4.00   \u2502   4.1\n             Middle part    \u2502   4.1    \u2502   3.11   \u2502   5.3\n             Hind part      \u2502   3.9    \u2502   3.60   \u2502   4.1\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe other example produced by Dr. Lucae is that of Dr. Christian\nHeinrich B\u00fcnger, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Marburg. In\nthis skull the frontal suture is still more strongly defined at the age\nof sixty than in that of Heinse. The internal capacity of the skull is\nstated as 42.8 oz., equivalent to 1213 grms., which, dealt with as above\nstated, yields 1410 grms. or 49.8 oz. av. Other dimensions of the skull\nare given as follows:\u2014\n\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n                            \u2502 Height.  \u2502 Length.  \u2502 Breadth.\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             Fore part      \u2502   4.8    \u2502   4.1    \u2502   4.2\n             Middle part    \u2502   4.9    \u2502   4.1    \u2502   5.0\n             Hind part      \u2502   3.7    \u2502   3.1    \u2502   4.1\n                            \u2502          \u2502          \u2502\n             \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe premature ossification of the sagittal suture, by arresting the\nexpansion of the brain laterally, is a frequent source of abnormal\nelongation of the head. On the other hand the frontal suture, which\nordinarily closes in the man-child before birth, though persistent in\nthe lower animals, is occasionally found to remain open in man till\nmaturity, as in the two notable cases here described. Darwin refers to\nit as a case of arrested development. \u201cThis suture,\u201d he says,\n\u201coccasionally persists, more or less distinctly, in man after maturity,\nand more frequently in ancient than in recent crania; especially, as\nCanestrini has observed, in those exhumed from the Drift, and belonging\nto the brachycephalic type. In this and other instances the cause of\nancient races approaching the lower animals in certain characters more\nfrequently than do the modern races, appears to be that the latter stand\nat a somewhat greater distance in the long line of descent from their\nearly semi-human progenitors.\u201d[173] It may be permissible to express a\ndoubt as to this relative frequency of the occurrence of the frontal\nsuture in ancient and modern races, since the great naturalist does not\nstate it as a result of his own observations. Not only am I led to do so\nfrom repeatedly noting its occurrence in modern crania; but its effect\ncan in no way favour arrested development. It must rather admit of the\nfree expansion of the frontal lobes of the brain, the decrease of which\nin a progressive ratio is characteristic of the orang, chimpanzee, and\nbaboon.\n\nOn the general question of cranial development as an index of cerebral\ncapacity, Professor Welcker assigns a standard, which was accepted by\nDr. Thurnam, thus: \u201cSkulls of more than 540 to 550 millimetres in\nhorizontal circumference (the weight of brain belonging to which is 1490\nto 1560 grms., or 52.5-55 oz. av.), are to be regarded as exceptionally\nlarge. The designation of _kephalones_, proposed by Virchow, might\ncommence from this point. Men with great mental endowments fall, for the\nmost part, under the definition of kephalony. If we consider the\nrelations of capacity, 1800 grms. (63.5 oz.) appears to be the greatest\nattainable weight of brain within a skull not pathologically enlarged.\u201d\nBut the brain of Cuvier\u2014the heaviest healthy brain yet\nrecorded,\u2014exceeded this. Its weight is stated by Wagner as 1861 grms.,\nor 65.8 oz.; but this M. Broca corrects to 1829.96 grms. Even thus\nreduced it exceeds the limits assigned by Professor Welcker to the\nnormal healthy brain. But a curious commentary upon this is furnished by\nthe fact that the modern English skull which Dr. Davis selects as\npresenting the most striking analogy to the Neanderthal skull\u2014\u201cthe most\nape-like skull which Professor Huxley had ever beheld,\u201d\u2014though marked\nnot only by the prominence of the superciliary ridges, but by great\ndepression of the frontal region, appears to have a cubical capacity\nequivalent to that of Dr. Abercrombie, whose brain is only surpassed by\nthat of Cuvier among the ascertained brain-weights of distinguished\nmen.[174] Its capacity is 94 oz. of sand, or 113 cubic inches,\nequivalent\u2014after making the requisite deduction for membranes and\nfluids,\u2014to a brain-weight of 63 oz.\n\nI have attempted in the following table to reduce to some common\nstandard such imperfect glimpses as are recoverable of the cranial\ncapacity of some distinguished men, of whose actual brain-weights no\nrecord exists:\u2014\n\n                               TABLE III\n\n                 CRANIAL CAPACITY OF DISTINGUISHED MEN\n\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                     \u2502        \u2502          \u2502               \u2502\n                     \u2502Length. \u2502 Breadth. \u2502Circumference. \u2502   Estimated\n                     \u2502        \u2502          \u2502               \u2502 Brain-Weight.\n                     \u2502        \u2502          \u2502               \u2502\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                     \u2502        \u2502          \u2502               \u2502\n Dante               \u2502   \u2014    \u2502    \u2014     \u2502       \u2014       \u2502     51.3\n Robert the Bruce    \u2502  7.70  \u2502   6.25   \u2502     22.25     \u2502       \u2014\n Burns               \u2502  8.00  \u2502   5.95   \u2502     22.25     \u2502       \u2014\n Scott (head)        \u2502  9.00  \u2502   6.40   \u2502     23.10     \u2502       \u2014\n Heinse              \u2502   \u2014    \u2502   5.30   \u2502       \u2014       \u2502     48.0\n B\u00fcnger              \u2502   \u2014    \u2502   5.00   \u2502       \u2014       \u2502     49.8\n Ugo Foscolo         \u2502  6.90  \u2502   5.70   \u2502     20.50     \u2502     48.4\n                     \u2502        \u2502          \u2502               \u2502\n \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nSome of the examples adduced in the above table appear to exhibit\ninstances of mental endowment of high character, without the\ncorresponding degree of cranial, and consequently cerebral development.\nThe following table exhibits recorded examples of a series of actual\nbrain-weights of distinguished men. It seems to lend confirmation to the\nidea that great manifestation of mental endowment is correlated, in the\nmajority of observed cases, to a brain above the normal average in mass\nor weight. But even here intellect and brain-weight are not strictly in\nuniform ratio. Several of the following brain-weights, including that of\nTiedemann, are furnished by Wagner, in the _Vorstudien des Menschlichen\nGehirns_; but in an elaborate table of brain-weights given in the\n_Morphologie und physiologie des Menschlichen gehirns als Seelenorgan_,\nthe brain of Byron is classed above all except Cuvier; while Vogt gives\nthe same place, by estimate, to Schiller\u2019s, as next in rank to that of\nthe great naturalist among highly developed brains. Dr. Thurnam states\nhis authorities for others, when producing them in his valuable\ncontribution to the _Journal of Mental Science_ \u201cOn the Weight of the\nBrain.\u201d For that of Webster he refers to \u201cthe unsatisfactory article on\nthe brain of Daniel Webster, _Edin. Med. Surg. Journ._, vol. lxxix. p.\n355.\u201d Dr. J. C. Nott, in his \u201cComparative Anatomy of Races\u201d (_Types of\nMankind_, p. 453), says: \u201cDr. Wyman, in his _post-mortem_ examination of\nthe famed Daniel Webster, found the internal capacity of the cranium to\nbe 122 cubic inches, and in a private letter to me, he says: \u2018The\ncircumference was measured outside of the integuments before the scalp\nwas removed, and may, perhaps, as there was much emaciation, be a little\nless than in health.\u2019 It was 23\u00be inches in circumference; and the Doctor\nstates that it is well known there are several heads in Boston larger\nthan Webster\u2019s. I have myself, in the last few weeks, measured half a\ndozen heads as large and larger.\u201d The circumference, it will be seen,\nexceeds the corresponding measurement of Scott\u2019s head, taken under\nsimilar circumstances. But the statement of 122 cubic inches as the\ninternal capacity of Webster\u2019s skull seems open to question. If correct,\ninstead of 53.5 oz. of brain-weight as stated in the following table, it\nis the equivalent of a brain-weight of fully 65 oz., or one in excess\neven of that, of Cuvier. The brain-weights of Goodsir, Simpson, and\nAgassiz, are given in the following table from the reported autopsy in\neach case:\u2014\n\n                                TABLE IV\n\n                   BRAIN-WEIGHTS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n     \u2502                    \u2502                         \u2502      \u2502      \u2502\n     \u2502                    \u2502                         \u2502 Age. \u2502Oz.   \u2502Grms.\n     \u2502                    \u2502                         \u2502      \u2502      \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n     \u2502                    \u2502                         \u2502      \u2502      \u2502\n    1\u2502Cuvier              \u2502Naturalist               \u2502  63  \u250264.5  \u2502 1830\n    2\u2502Byron               \u2502Poet                     \u2502  36  \u250263.5? \u2502 1799\n    3\u2502Abercrombie         \u2502Philosopher, Physician   \u2502  64  \u250263.   \u2502 1785\n    4\u2502Schiller            \u2502Poet                     \u2502  46  \u250263.?  \u2502 1785\n    5\u2502Goodsir             \u2502Anatomist                \u2502  53  \u250257.55 \u2502 1629\n    6\u2502George Brown        \u2502Statesman (Canadian)     \u2502  61  \u250256.3  \u2502 1595\n    7\u2502Harrison            \u2502Chief Justice            \u2502  45  \u250256.   \u2502 1586\n    8\u2502Spurzheim           \u2502Phrenologist, Physician  \u2502  56  \u250255.06 \u2502 1575\n    9\u2502Simpson             \u2502Physician, Arch\u00e6ologist  \u2502  59  \u250254.   \u2502 1530\n   10\u2502Dirichlet           \u2502Mathematician            \u2502  54  \u250253.6  \u2502 1520\n   11\u2502De Morny            \u2502Statesman                \u2502  50  \u250253.6  \u2502 1520\n   12\u2502Napoleon I.         \u2502General, Statesman       \u2502  52  \u250253.5  \u2502 1516\n   13\u2502Daniel Webster      \u2502Statesman                \u2502  70  \u250253.5  \u2502 1516\n   14\u2502Campbell            \u2502Lord Chancellor          \u2502  80  \u250253.5  \u2502 1516\n   15\u2502Agassiz             \u2502Naturalist               \u2502  66  \u250253.4  \u2502 1512\n   16\u2502Chalmers            \u2502Author, Preacher         \u2502  67  \u250253.   \u2502 1502\n   17\u2502Fuchs               \u2502Pathologist              \u2502  52  \u250252.9  \u2502 1499\n   18\u2502De Morgan           \u2502Mathematician            \u2502  73  \u250252.7  \u2502 1493\n   19\u2502Gauss               \u2502Mathematician            \u2502  78  \u250252.6  \u2502 1492\n   20\u2502Broca               \u2502Anthropologist           \u2502  \u2014   \u250252.5  \u2502 1488\n   21\u2502Dupuytren           \u2502Surgeon                  \u2502  58  \u250250.7  \u2502 1436\n   22\u2502Grote               \u2502Historian                \u2502  76  \u250249.75 \u2502 1410\n   23\u2502Whewell             \u2502Philosopher              \u2502  71  \u250249.   \u2502 1390\n   24\u2502Hermann             \u2502Philologist              \u2502  51  \u250247.9  \u2502 1358\n   25\u2502Tiedemann           \u2502Physiologist             \u2502  80  \u250244.2  \u2502 1254\n   26\u2502Hausmann            \u2502Mineralogist             \u2502  77  \u250243.2  \u2502 1226\n     \u2502                    \u2502                         \u2502      \u2502      \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nDr. Thurnam, in producing fifteen of the above examples, remarks:\n\u201cAltogether, they decidedly confirm the generally received view of the\nconnection between size of brain and mental power and intelligence\u201d; and\nhe adds his conviction that if the examination of the brain in the upper\nranks of society, and in men whose mental endowments are well known,\nwere more generally available, further confirmation would be given to\nthis conclusion. The converse, at least, is certain, that no great\nintelligence or unwonted mental power is possible with a brain much\nbelow the average in mass and weight But while the above list exhibits a\nseries of exceptionally high brain-weights of distinguished men, the\nrelative weights in some cases\u2014as in Napoleon\u2014are calculated to excite\nsurprise if viewed as an index of comparative intellectual capacity. On\nthe other hand, those lowest in the scale, and below the mean weight,\ninclude men of undoubted eminence in letters and science; while the\nproofs are no less unquestionable that a large healthy brain is not\ninvariably the organ of unwonted intelligence or mental activity.\n\nIn the _Philosophical Transactions_ of 1861, Dr. Boyd published an\nelaborate series of researches illustrative of the weight of various\norgans of the human body, including the weights of two thousand brains.\nMost of the healthy brains are those of patients in the St. Marylebone\nInfirmary, and have already been referred to as necessarily representing\nthe indigent and uneducated classes of London. Here, therefore, if an\nunusually large brain is the index of intellectual power, every\nprobability was against the occurrence of brains above the average size\nor weight. But the results by no means confirm this assumption. Among\nthe patients in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, in like manner, though\nincluding the better class of artizans and others from country\ndistricts, we might still look for a confirmation of M. Broca\u2019s\nassumption, based on extensive observations of French crania, \u201cthat,\nother things being equal, whether as the result of education, or by\nhereditary transmission, the volume of the skull, and consequently of\nthe brain, is greater in the higher than in the lower classes.\u201d But Dr.\nPeacock\u2019s tables include four brain-weights, three of them of a sailor,\na printer, and a tailor, respectively, ranging from 61 to 62.75 oz.; and\nso surpassing all but two, or at the most three, of the heaviest\nascertained brain-weights of distinguished men. Tried by the posthumous\ntest of internal capacity, three skulls of nameless Frenchmen, derived\nfrom the common cemeteries of Paris, in like manner showed brains\nequalling in size that of Cuvier. The following are the maximum\nbrain-weights among the St. Marylebone patients apparently unaffected by\ncerebral disease:\u2014\n\n                                TABLE V\n\n                  MAXIMUM BRAIN-WEIGHTS\u2014ST. MARYLEBONE\n\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2530\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2530\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n            AGE.      \u2503        MALE.        \u2503       FEMALE.\n                      \u2503   Oz.       Grms.   \u2503   Oz.       Grms.\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2542\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2542\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n             7-14     \u2503  57.25       1622   \u2503  52.00       1473\n            14-20     \u2503  58.50       1658   \u2503  52.00       1473\n            20-30     \u2503  57.00       1615   \u2503  55.25       1565\n            30-40     \u2503  60.75       1721   \u2503  53.00       1502\n            40-50     \u2503  60.00       1700   \u2503  52.50       1488\n            50-60     \u2503  59.00       1672   \u2503  52.50       1488\n            60-70     \u2503  59.50       1686   \u2503  54.00       1530\n            70-80     \u2503  55.25       1565   \u2503  49.50       1403\n             80       \u2503  53.75       1523   \u2503  48.00       1360\n          All Ages.   \u2503                     \u2503\n             7-80     \u2503  60.75       1721   \u2503  55.25       1565\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2538\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2538\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe stature, or relative size of body, has already been referred to as\nan element in testing the comparative male and female weight of brain;\nand it is one which ought not to be overlooked in estimating the\ncomparative size and weight of the brains of distinguished men. From my\nown recollections of Dr. Chalmers, who was of moderate stature, his head\nappeared proportionally large. The same was noticeable in the cases of\nLord Jeffrey, Lord Macaulay, Sir James Y. Simpson, and very markedly so\nin that of De Quincey. The philosopher Kant was also of small stature;\nand Dr. Thurnam refers to the observation of Carus that he had a head\nnot absolutely large, though, in proportion to the small and puny body\nof that eminent thinker, it was of remarkable size. Among the\nlarge-brained artizans of the Marylebone Infirmary, on the contrary, the\nprobabilities are in favour of a majority of them being men of full\nmuscular development and ample stature. Nevertheless, with every\nallowance for this, it still remains probable, if not demonstrable, that\nfrom the same humble and unnoted class, examples of megalocephaly could\nbe selected little short in cerebral mass, and apparently in\nbrain-weight, of the group of men whose large brains are recognised as\nthe concomitants of exceptionally great mental capacity and intellectual\nvigour. Unless, therefore, we are contented to accept the poet\u2019s dictum,\n\u201cTheir lot forbad,\u201d[175] and assume that \u201cchill penury repressed their\nnoble rage, and froze the genial current of the soul,\u201d it is manifest\nthat other elements besides those of volume or weight are essential as\ncerebral indices of mental power. Dr. Thurnam, after noting examples\nthat had come under his own notice of brain-weights above the\nmedium\u2014but which, as those of insane patients, may be assigned to other\ncauses than healthy cerebral development,\u2014adds: \u201cThe heaviest brain\nweighed by me (62 oz., or 1760 grms.) was that of an uneducated butcher,\nwho was just able to read, and who died suddenly of epilepsy, combined\nwith mania, after about a year\u2019s illness. The head was large, but\nwell-formed; the brain of normal consistence; the _puncta vasculosa_\nnumerous.\u201d In cases like this, of weighty brain with no corresponding\nmanifestation of intellectual power, something else was wanting besides\nan ampler sphere. The mere position of a humble artizan or labourer will\nnot suffice to mar the capacity to \u201cmake by force his merit known,\u201d\nwhich pertains to the \u201cdivinely gifted man.\u201d\n\nArkwright, Franklin, Watt, Stephenson, Farraday, Hugh Miller, and others\nof the like type of self-made men, are not rare. Among the large-brained\nartizans, scarcely one can have had a more limited sphere for the\nexercise of mental vigour than the poet Burns, the child of poverty and\ntoil, who refers to his own early years as passed in \u201cthe unceasing moil\nof a galley-slave.\u201d In his case the very means essential to a healthy\nphysical development were stinted at the most critical period of life.\nHis brother Gilbert says: \u201cWe lived sparingly. For several years\nbutcher\u2019s meat was a stranger to the house; while all exerted themselves\nto the utmost of their strength, and rather beyond it, in the labours of\nthe farm. My brother, at the age of thirteen, assisted in thrashing the\ncrop of corn, and at fifteen was the principal labourer on the farm.\u201d\nSuch premature toil and privations left their permanent stamp on his\nframe. \u201cExternally, the consequences appeared in a stoop of the\nshoulders, which never left him; but internally, in the more serious\nform of mental depression, attended by a nervous disorder which affected\nthe movements of the heart.\u201d He had only exchanged the toil on his\nfather\u2019s farm for equally unremitting labour on his own, when the finest\nof his poems were written; nor would it be inconsistent with all the\nfacts to assume that the privations of his early life diminished his\ncapacity for continuous mental activity; as it undoubtedly impaired his\nphysical constitution. But, while the possession of a brain much above\nthe average in size might have seemed to account for his triumph over\nthe depressing influences of his limited sphere, the fact that his brain\nappears to have been below the average size, points to some other\nrequisite than mere cerebral mass as essential to intellectual vigour.\n\nThe brain is influenced in all its functions by the character and the\namount of blood circulating through it, and promptly manifests the\neffects of any deleterious substance, such as alcohol or opium,\nintroduced into its tissues. It depends, like other portions of the\nnervous system, on an adequate supply of nourishment. In both respects\nthe brain of the Ayrshire poet was injuriously affected, in so far as we\nmay infer from all the known circumstances of his life.\n\nThe human brain is large in proportion to the body in infancy and youth;\nand the opinions of leading anatomists and physiologists early in the\npresent century favoured the idea that it attained its full size within\na few years after birth. Professor S\u0153mmering assumed this to take place\nso early as the third year. Sir William Hamilton explicitly stated his\nconclusion thus: \u201cIn man the encephalon reaches its full size about\nseven years of age\u201d; and Tiedemann assigns the eighth year as that in\nwhich it attains its greatest development. But the more accurate and\nextended observations since carried on rather tend to the conclusion\nthat the brain not only goes on increasing in size and weight to a much\nlater period of life; but that it is healthfully stimulated by habitual\nactivity, and under exceptionally favouring circumstances it may\nincrease in weight long after the body has attained its maximum.\n\nThe largest average brain-weights, as determined by observations on the\nbrains of upwards of 2000 men and women in different countries of\nEurope, have indeed been found in those not above twenty years of age;\nand from a nearly equal number of English examples, Dr. Boyd determines\nthe period of greatest average weight to be the interval between\nfourteen and twenty years of age; but this includes cases in which death\nhas ensued from undue or premature brain development.\n\nOther evidence leaves no room for doubt that cases are not rare of the\ngrowth, or increased density of the brain up to middle age; while the\nobservations of Professor Welcker indicate this process extended to a\nlater period of life. The average brain-weights, as given by Boyd,\nPeacock, and Broca, from healthy or sane cases, along with those of\nWelcker, include the weights of 47 male brains from ten to twenty years\nof age, giving an average of 49.6 oz., or 1405 grms.; and of 112 male\nbrains from twenty to thirty years of age, giving an average of 48.9\noz., or 1384 grms.; and the results of a nearly equal number of female\nbrains closely approximate. They embrace English, Scotch, German, and\nFrench, men and women. Dr. Welcker\u2019s results indicate the period of\nmaximum brain-weight to be between 30-40, as shown in the following\ntable:\u2014\n\n                                TABLE VI\n\n             AVERAGE WEIGHT OF THE BRAIN AT DIFFERENT AGES\n\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2530\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2530\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n            AGE.      \u2503        MALE.        \u2503       FEMALE.\n                      \u2503 Oz. Av.     Grms.   \u2503 Oz. Av.     Grms.\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2542\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2542\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n          From 10-20  \u2503   47.5       1346   \u2503   43.1       1221\n               20-30  \u2503   49.5       1404   \u2503   44.1       1251\n               30-40  \u2503   49.5       1404   \u2503   44.8       1272\n               40-50  \u2503   48.6       1379   \u2503   43.5       1234\n               50-60  \u2503   48.1       1365   \u2503   43.5       1234\n               60-70  \u2503   46.1       1306   \u2503   42.8       1213\n                      \u2503                     \u2503\n       \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2538\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2538\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nIn the female examples, amounting to thirty-one between seventy and\neighty years of age, and six between eighty and ninety, the continuous\ndiminution of brain-weight corresponds with the increasing age; but in\nthe male examples, sixty-five cases between sixty and seventy years of\nage yield an average brain-weight of 46.1 oz., while twenty-seven cases\nbetween seventy and eighty years of age give 47.9 as the average;\nfalling in the next decade to 43.8.\n\nIt may be inferred from the number of cases pointing to an early\nattainment of the highest average brain-weight, not that the brain\ndiffers from all other internal organs of the human body in attaining\nits maximum before the period of puberty; but that physical as well as\nmental vigour are dependent on the maintenance of a nice equilibrium\nbetween the brain and the other organs while in process of development.\nThe observations of Dr. Boyd, including the results of 2614\n_post-mortem_ examinations of sane and insane patients of all ages,\nshowed that the average weight of the brain of \u201cstill-born\u201d children at\nthe full period was much greater than that of the new-born living child.\nIt is a legitimate inference, therefore, that death in the former cases\nwas traceable to an excessive premature development of the brain. Again,\nwhen it is shown from numerous cases that the highest average weights of\nbrain in both sexes occur not later than twenty years of age, it appears\na more legitimate inference to trace to exceptional cerebral development\ntowards the period of adolescence, the mortality which rendered\navailable so many examples of unusually large or heavy brains, than to\nassume that the normal healthy brain begins to diminish at that age.\n\nIt is a fact familiar to popular observation that a large head in youth\nis apt to be unfavourable to life. A tendency to epilepsy appears to be\nthe frequent concomitant of an unusually large brain; and with the\ncongestion accompanying its abnormal condition, this may account for the\nweights of such diseased brains as have been repeatedly found in excess\nof nearly all the recorded examples of megalocephaly in the cases of\ndistinguished men. But a greater interest attaches to a remarkable\nexample of healthy megalocephaly recorded in the _British Medical\nJournal_ for 1872. The case was that of a boy thirteen years of age, who\ndied in Middlesex Hospital from injuries caused by a fall from an\nomnibus. His brain was found to weigh 58 oz. He had been a particularly\nhealthy lad, without any evidence of rachitis, and very intelligent.\nThis is a strikingly exceptional case of a healthy brain, at the age of\nthirteen, exceeding in weight all but two of the greatest ascertained\nbrain-weights of distinguished men.\n\nFrom the evidence already adduced of relative cubical capacity of the\nskulls of different races, it appears, as was to be expected, that there\nis a greater prevalence of the amply-developed brain among the higher\nand more civilised races. But all averages are apt to be deceptive; and\nthe progressive scale from the smallest up to the greatest mass of brain\nis by no means in the precise ratio of an intellectual scale of\nprogression. The results of Dr. J. B. Davis\u2019s investigations, based on\nthe study of a large, and in many cases a seemingly adequate number of\nskulls, bring out this remarkable fact, that, so far from the\nPolynesians occupying a rank in the lowest scale, as affirmed by\nProfessor Vogt, the Oceanic races of the Pacific generally rank in\ninternal capacity of skull, and consequent size of brain, next to the\nEuropean.\n\nBut it is of more importance for our present inquiry to note that, as\nexceptionally large and heavy brains occur among the most civilised\nraces, in some cases\u2014and in some only\u2014accompanied with corresponding\nmanifestations of unusual intellectual power; so also it becomes\napparent that skulls much exceeding the average, and some of remarkable\ninternal capacity, are met with among barbarian races, and even among\nsome of the lowest savages. Taking the crania in the elaborate series of\ntables in Dr. J. B. Davis\u2019s _Thesaurus Craniorum_, with an internal\ncapacity above 100 cubic inches, they will rank in order as follows:\u2014\n\n           Chinese                                  111.8\n           Maduran                                  110.6\n           Marquesan                                110.6\n           Kanaka                                   108.8\n           Javan                                    107.\n           Negro                                    105.8\n           Australian                               104.5\n           Kafir                                    104.5\n           Bakele                                   103.3\n           Tidorese                                 103.3\n           Bhotia                                   102.7\n           Bodo                                     100.9\n           Hindoo                                   100.9\n           Sumatra                                  100.9\n\nAmong the European series the largest is an Irish cranium of 121.6 cubic\ninches, and next to it comes an Italian, 114.3, and an Englishman,\n112.4; an ancient Briton from a Yorkshire Long Barrow, 109.4; an ancient\nRoman, 106.4; a Lapp, 105.8; an ancient Gaul, 103.7; a Briton of Roman\ntimes, 103.3; a Merovingian Frank, 101.5; and an Anglo-Saxon, 100.9.\nThose and other examples of the like kind are full of interest as\nshowing the recurrence of megalocephalic variations from the common\ncranial and cerebral standard among ancient races; and among rudest\nsavages as well as among the most cultivated classes of modern civilised\nnations. But the order shown in the above instances is derived from\npurely exceptional examples, and is no key to the relative capacity of\nthe races named.\n\nOpportunities for testing the size and weight of the brain among\nbarbarous races are only rarely accessible to those who are qualified to\navail themselves of them for the purposes of science. Some near\napproximation to the relative brain-weight of the English, Scotch,\nGerman, and French, may now be assumed to have been established. Dr.\nThurnam instituted a comparison between those and two of the prehistoric\nraces of Britain\u2014the Dolichocephali of the Long Barrows, and the\nBrachycephali of the Round Barrows of England.[176] The results are\ncurious, as showing not only a greater capacity in the ancient British\nskulls than the average modern German, French, or English head; but an\nactual average higher than that of all but five of the most\ndistinguished men of Europe, whose brain-weights have been recorded. On\ncomparing the ancient skulls with those of modern Europeans, as\ndetermined by gauging the capacity of both by the same process, the\nfollowing are the results presented, according to the authorities\nnamed:\u2014\n\n                               TABLE VII\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                       \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\n                       \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502Capacity. \u2502 Brain-\n    SKULLS OF MEN.     \u2502   No.    \u2502  Weight  \u2502 Cubic  \u2502  Centi-  \u2502 weight\n                       \u2502          \u2502 of Sand. \u2502  In.   \u2502 metres.  \u2502oz. av.\n                       \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                       \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\nAnc. British, L.       \u2502    18    \u2502   82     \u2502   99   \u2502   1622   \u2502  54.0\nBarrows                \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\nAnc. British, R.       \u2502    18    \u2502   80\u00bd    \u2502   98   \u2502   1605   \u2502  53.5\nBarrows                \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\nMod. English, _Morton_ \u2502    28    \u2502   77     \u2502   94   \u2502   1540   \u2502  52.2\nMod. French, _Broca_   \u2502   357    \u2502   74     \u2502   91   \u2502   1502   \u2502  50.6\nMod. German, _Welcker_ \u2502    30    \u2502   72     \u2502   88   \u2502   1450   \u2502  49.0\n                       \u2502          \u2502          \u2502        \u2502          \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nThe highest average of any nationality, as determined by Drs. Reid and\nPeacock from the weighing of 157 brains of male patients, chiefly\nScottish Lowlanders, in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, is little more\nthan 50 oz., or 1417 grammes; whereas the estimated average brain-weight\nin the ancient British skulls is 54 oz. for the Dolichocephali of the\nLong Barrows, which equals that of Sir James Simpson, and exceeds all\nbut six of the most distinguished men adduced in Table IV. For the\nBrachycephali of the Round Barrows it is 53.5 oz., which is in excess of\nthe brain-weights of Agassiz, Chalmers, Whewell, and other distinguished\nmen, and exactly accords with that of Daniel Webster and Lord Chancellor\nCampbell. In so far, moreover, as this illustrates the cerebral capacity\nof ancient races, it is in each case an average obtained by gauging\neighteen skulls, and not the cranial capacity of one or two\nexceptionally large ones. Dr. Thurnam does indeed suggest that the\nBarrows may have been the sepulchres of chiefs; nor is this unlikely;\nbut the superior vigour and mental endowment which this implies fails to\naccount for a cerebral capacity surpassing all but the most\ndistinguished men of science and letters in modern Europe referred to in\nthe above table. Rather may we conclude from this, as from other\nevidence, that quality of brain may, within certain limits, be of more\nsignificance than mere quantity; and that brains of the same volume, and\nagreeing in weight, may greatly differ in minute structure and in powers\nof cerebration.\n\nIn the case of the ancient British Barrow-Builders we seem to have large\nheads and remarkable development of brain, without any indications of an\nequivalent in intellectual power; and although the estimated\nbrain-weight derived from gauging the capacity of the empty chamber of\nthe skull proceeds on the assumption of mass and weight agreeing,\nsufficient data exist to justify the adoption of this for approximate\nresults. The average weight of brain of twelve male Negroes of\nundetermined tribes, deduced from gauging their skulls, has been\nascertained to amount to 1255 grammes, or 44.3 oz. The actual weight of\nbrain of the Negro of Guinea, described by Professor Calori, was 1260\ngrammes; and other examples vary considerably from the average. Mascagni\ngives 1458 grammes as the weight of one Negro brain weighed by him;\nequivalent to an actual brain-weight of 51.5 oz., which is greater than\nthat of Dupuytren, Whewell, Hermann, Tiedemann, or Grote. Nevertheless,\nalthough the extremes are great, and are confirmed by a like diversity\nin measurements of the horizontal circumference and of internal\ncapacity, the average result given above appears to be a fair and\nreliable one.\n\nThus far the inquiry into data illustrative of comparative size and\nweight of brain has dealt chiefly with the races of the eastern\nhemisphere. The compass is great in point of time in so far as it\nembraces savage and civilised peoples, including the barbarians of\nEurope\u2019s Pal\u00e6olithic era, along with modern tribes of Asia, Africa, and\nAustralia, and some of the most notable among the prehistoric races of\nthe British Isles. The compass is equally great in the range of\nintellectual development, when to those are added data illustrative of\nthe average brain-weight of some of the leading nations of modern\nEurope, and a series of examples derived from noted instances of the\nhighest exceptional types of intellectual power and activity in recent\ntimes. Some general conclusions of a comprehensive kind seem to follow\nlegitimately from this evidence. Notwithstanding the prominence given to\nthe assumed evidence of a low type of skull, depressed forehead, and\npoor frontal development, in the assumed primitive European Canstadt\nrace, when we keep in view the enormous interval of time assumed to\nseparate \u201cthose savages who peopled Europe in the Pal\u00e6olithic age\u201d from\nour own era, the amount of difference in size and apparent brain-weight\nis not remarkable. Compared with those of contemporary savage races it\nsuggests no more than the accompanying development of the brain in a\nratio with the intellectual activities of progressive civilisation, and\neven then the relative brain-mass of the lowest type is suggestive of\nlatent powers only needing development. But the old and later races of\nthe New World stand in a different relation to each other; and the\nprocess thus far employed when applied to determine the comparative\ncranial capacities of the native American races, discloses results of a\ndifferent character, and widely at variance with those above described\nrelating to the ancient races of Britain. On the continent of America\nthe native ethnical scale embraces a comparatively narrow range, and any\nintrusive elements are sufficiently recent to be easily eliminated. The\nPatagonian and the Fuegian rank alongside of the Bushman, the Andaman\nIslander, or the Australian, as among the lowest types of humanity;\nwhile the Aztecs, Mayas, Quichuas, and Aymaras, attained to the highest\nscale which has been reached independently by any native American race.\nWe owe to the zealous and indefatigable labours of Dr. Morton, alike in\nthe formation of his great collection of human crania, and in the\npublished results embodied in the _Crania Americana_, a large amount of\nknowledge derived from this class of evidence in reference to the races\nof the New World. In one respect, at least, those results stand out in\nstriking contrast to the large-headed barbarian Barrow-Builders of\nancient Britain. Dr. Morton subdivides the American races into the\nToltecan race, embracing the semi-civilised communities of Mexico,\nBogota, and Peru, and the barbarous tribes scattered over the continent\nfrom the Arctic circle to Tierra del Fuego. His latest views are\nembodied in a contribution to Schoolcraft\u2019s _History of the Indian\nTribes of the United States_, entitled \u201cThe Physical Type of the\nAmerican Indians.\u201d In treating of the volume of brain, he draws special\nattention to the Peruvian skulls, 201 in number, obtained for him from\nthe cemeteries of Pisco, Pachacamac, and Arica. \u201cHerera informs us that\nPachacamac was sacred to priests, nobles, and other persons of\ndistinction; and there is ample evidence that Arica and Pisco, though\nfree to all classes, were among the most favoured cemeteries of Peru.\u201d\nDr. Morton accordingly adds: \u201cIt is of some importance to the present\ninquiry, that nearly one-half of this series of Peruvian crania was\nobtained at Pachacamac; whence the inference that they belonged to the\nmost intellectual and cultivated portion of the Peruvian nation; for in\nPeru learning of every kind was an exclusive privilege of the ruling\ncaste.\u201d In reality, however, later additions to our knowledge of the\nphysical characteristics of the ancient Peruvians tend to confirm the\nidea of the existence of two distinct races: a patrician order occupying\na position analogous to the Franks of Gaul or the Normans of England,\nthough more aptly to be compared to the Brahmins of India; and a more\nnumerous class, constituting the labouring and industrial orders of the\ncommunity, abundantly represented in the Pacific coast tribes of Peru,\nthe cemeteries of which have furnished the larger number of crania to\nEuropean and American collections.\n\nTo such a patrician order or caste the intellectual superiority and\nprivileges of the governing race pertained. But whatever may have been\nthe exclusive prerogatives of the patrician and sacerdotal orders, there\nis no doubt that the Peruvians as a people had carried metallurgy to as\nhigh a development as has been attained by any race ignorant of working\nin iron. They had acquired great skill in the arts of the goldsmith, the\nengraver, chaser, and modeller. Pottery was fashioned into many artistic\nand fanciful forms, showing ingenuity and great versatility of fancy.\nThey excelled as engineers, architects, sculptors, weavers, and\nagriculturists. Their public works display great skill, combined with\ncomprehensive aims of practical utility; and alone, among all the\nnations of the New World, they had domesticated animals, and trained\nthem as beasts of burden. It is not, therefore, without reason that Dr.\nMorton adds: \u201cWhen we consider the institutions of the old Peruvians,\ntheir comparatively advanced civilisation, their tombs and temples,\nmountain roads and monolithic gateways, together with their knowledge of\ncertain ornamental arts, it is surprising to find that they possessed a\nbrain no larger than the Hottentot and New Hollander, and far below that\nof the barbarous hordes of their own race. For, on measuring 155 crania,\nnearly all derived from the sepulchres just mentioned, they give but 75\ncubic inches (equivalent, after due deduction for membranes and fluids,\nto a brain of 40.1 oz. av. in weight,) for the average bulk of the\nbrain. Of the whole number, only one attains the capacity of 101 cubic\ninches, and the minimum sinks to 58, the smallest in the whole series of\n641 measured crania. It is important further to remark that the sexes\nare nearly equally represented, namely, eighty men and seventy-five\nwomen.\u201d\n\nOther collections subsequently formed have largely added to our means of\ntesting the curious question thus raised of the apparent inverse ratio\nof volume of brain to intellectual power and progressive civilisation\namong the native races of the American continent. In 1866, Mr. E. G.\nSquier presented to the Peabody Museum of American Arch\u00e6ology and\nEthnology at Harvard, a collection of seventy-five Peruvian skulls,\nobtained by himself from various localities both on the coast and in the\ninterior. \u201cThe skulls from the interior represent the Aymara on Lake\nTiticaca, as well as the Quichua, Cuzco, or Inca families; and the\nskulls of every coast family from Tumbes to Atacama, or from Ecuador to\nChili.\u201d[177] Subsequently the curator, the late Professor Jeffreys\nWyman, made this collection, along with two others, of skulls from the\nmounds of Kentucky and Florida, the subject of careful comparative\nmeasurements. The following are the results: The crania from Florida\nwere chiefly obtained from a burial place near an ancient Indian shell\nmound of gigantic proportions, a few miles distant from Cedar Keys. They\nare eighteen in number, and have a mean capacity of 1375.7 cubic\ncentimetres, or nearly 84 cubic inches. The skulls from the Kentucky\nmounds, twenty-four in number, show a mean capacity of 1313 cubic\ncentimetres, 80.21 cubic inches, with a difference of 125 cubic\ncentimetres, or 7.61 cubic inches in favour of the males. Yet, small as\nthe Kentucky skulls are, they exceed the Peruvian ones. Keeping in view\nthe varied sources of the latter, Professor Wyman remarks: \u201cAlthough the\ncrania from the several localities show some differences as regards\ncapacity, yet in most other respects they are alike.\u201d And the numbers,\nwhen viewed separately, are too few to attach much importance to\nvariations within so narrow a range. Nevertheless it is noteworthy that\nthe highest mean is that of the Aymaras of Lake Titicaca; and this\ndifference is considerably increased by measurements derived from\nsubsequent additions to the Harvard collection, received since the death\nof Professor Wyman from the high valley of Lake Titicaca. In other\nrespects besides their marked superiority in size, the latter crania\ndiffer from those of the Coast tribes, and confirm the earlier deduction\nof an ethnical distinction between the more numerous race so abundantly\nrepresented in the Coast cemeteries, and that which is chiefly\nrepresented by crania brought from the interior. The numbers from the\nseveral localities selected by Professor Wyman as fair average specimens\nof the whole stand thus: six from burial towers, or chulpas, near Lake\nTiticaca, 1292; five from Cajamaquilla, 1268.75; fourteen from Casma,\n1254; four from Truxillo, 1236; four from Pachicamac, 1195; sixteen from\nAmacavilca, 1176.2; and seven from Grand Chimu, 1094.28.\n\nIn 1872, the collection of Peruvian crania in the Peabody Museum was\naugmented by a large addition from 330 skulls obtained by Professor\nAgassiz, through the intervention of Mr. T. J. Hutchinson, British\nConsul at Callao, in Peru. From those contributed to the Harvard Museum,\nDr. Wyman selected eleven as apparently the only ones unaffected by any\nartificial compression or distortion, and therefore valuable as\nillustrations of the normal shape of the Peruvian head. They are quite\nsymmetrical. The occiput, instead of being flattened or vertical, as in\nthe distorted crania, has the ordinary curves, and in some of them is\nprominent. Two of them are marked by a low, retreating forehead; but in\nall the others the forehead is moderately developed. As, moreover, the\nlarger half appear to be the skulls of females, this accounts for the\nmean capacity falling below the Peruvian average. But they are all\nsmall. The largest of them is only 1260 cubic centimetres, or less than\n74 cubic inches; and the average capacity of ten of them is 1129 cubic\ncentimetres, or 69 cubic inches.\n\nThe collection, as a whole, differs from that of Mr. Squier, in having\nbeen derived from the huacas, or ancient graves of one locality, that of\nAncon, near Callao. Professor Wyman stated as the result of his careful\nstudy of them: \u201cThe average capacity obtained from the whole collection,\nincluding those having the distorted as well as the natural shape,\nvaries but little from that of previous measurements,\u201d including those\nof Morton and Meigs, and his own results from the Squier collection.\n\nAnother collection of 150 ancient skulls, obtained by Mr. Hutchinson\nduring his residence in Peru, and presented to the Anthropological\nInstitute of London, has the additional value, like that of Squier, of\nhaving been carefully selected from different localities, including\nSantos, Ica, Ancon, Passamayo, and Cerro del Oro; and the same may be\nsaid of those enumerated in the _Thesaurus Craniorum_ of Dr. Davis. We\nhave thus unusually ample materials for determining the cranial\ncharacteristics of this remarkable people, and the results in every case\nare the same. After a careful examination of the Peruvian skulls, in the\nLondon anthropological collection, Professor Busk states his conclusions\nthus: \u201cThe mean capacity of the larger skulls, which may be regarded as\nmales, appears, as far as I have gone, to be about 80 cubic inches,\nequivalent to a brain of about 45 ounces, roughly estimated. This\ncapacity, and the measurements above cited, show that the crania\ngenerally are of small size\u201d; and he adds: \u201cthis is in accord with the\nstatements of all observers.\u201d[178]\n\nDr. Davis has added to the valuable data included in his _Thesaurus\nCraniorum_, a series of measurements of skeletons. Unfortunately that of\na male Quichua, procured by him in the form of a \u201cPeruvian mummy,\u201d\nproved to be affected with carious disease about the last dorsal and\nupper lumbar vertebr\u00e6; and consequently the length of the vertebral\ncolumn essential for comparison with the skeletons of other races, is\nwanting; but the other measurements indicate in this example a stature\nbelow the average, while the skull exceeds it. The average internal\ncapacity of eighteen Quichua male skulls, as given by Dr. Davis, is\nseventy-three, whereas this is 78.5. That the ancient Peruvian skulls\nare, with rare exceptions, of small size, is undoubted; and in view of\nthis it becomes a matter of some importance to determine whether this\nwas in any degree due to a correspondingly small stature. Obscure\nreferences are found in the legendary history of Peru to a pigmy race.\nPedro de Cieza de Leon, whose travels have been translated by Mr.\nMarkham, refers to the first emigration of the Indians of Chincha to\nthat valley, \u201cwhere they found many inhabitants, but all of such small\nstature, that the tallest was barely two cubits high\u201d (p. 260).\nGarcilasso de la Vega repeats another tradition heard by himself in\nPeru, of a race of giants who came by sea to the country, and were so\ntall that the natives reached no higher than their knees. They lived by\nrapine, and wasted the whole country till they were destroyed by fire\nfrom heaven. Traditions of this class may possibly point to the\nexistence of an aboriginal race of small stature. The aborigines of\nGuatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, are described as below the middle\nsize (Bancroft, vol. i. p. 688); and Von Tchudi divides the wild Indians\nof Peru into the Iscuchanos, the natives of the highlands, a tall, slim,\nvigorous race, with the head proportionally large and the forehead low;\nand those of the hot lowlands, a smaller race, lank, but broad\nshouldered, with a broad face and small round chin. There appear,\ntherefore, to be traces of one or more aboriginal races of small\nstature. But Dr. Morton says expressly of the Peruvians: \u201cOur knowledge\nof their physical appearance is derived solely from their tombs. In\nstature they appear not to have been in any respect remarkable, nor to\nhave differed from the cognate nations except in the conformation of the\nhead, which is small, greatly elongated, narrow its whole length, with a\nvery retreating forehead, and possessing more symmetry than is usual in\nskulls of the American race.\u201d Some of the characteristics here referred\nto are, in part at least, the result of artificial modifications; but\nthe small head appears to be an indisputable characteristic of the most\nnumerous ancient people of Peru.\n\nIt may not unreasonably excite surprise that Dr. Morton should have\nadduced results apparently pointing to the conclusion that civilisation\nhad progressed among the native races of the American continent in an\ninverse ratio to the volume of brain; and yet passed it over with such\nslight comment. The only hint at a recognition of the difficulty is\nwhere, as he draws his work to a close, he indicates his observation of\na greater anterior and coronal development in the smaller Peruvian\nbrain. \u201cIt is curious,\u201d he says, \u201cto observe that the barbarous nations\npossess a larger brain by 5\u00bd cubic inches than the Toltecans; while, on\nthe other hand, the Toltecans possess a greater relative capacity of the\nanterior chamber of the skull in the proportion of 42.3 to 41.8. Again,\nthe coronal region, though absolutely greater in the barbarous tribes,\nis rather larger in proportion in the demi-civilised tribes.\u201d[179] But\nDr. Morton also noted that the heads of nine Peruvian children in his\npossession \u201cappear to be nearly if not quite as large as those of\nchildren of other nations at the same age\u201d;[180] so that he seemed to\nrecognise something equivalent to an arrested cerebral development\naccompanying the intellectual activity of this remarkable people at some\nlater stage, yet without apparently affecting their mental power. But it\nwas characteristic of this minute and painstaking observer to accumulate\nand set forth his results, unaffected by any apparent difficulties or\ninconsistencies which they might seem to involve.\n\nImportant advances have been made in craniometry, as in other branches\nof anthropology, since Dr. Morton formed the collection which now, with\nmany later additions, constitutes an important department in the\ncollections of the Academy of Science of Philadelphia. Zealous and\nwell-trained labourers are following in his steps; but the value of his\nservices to science are more fully appreciated with every addition to\nthe work he inaugurated. Researches have been prosecuted for some years\nby a committee of the British Association with a view to securing\nreliable data relative to the tribes of the Canadian North-West and\nBritish Columbia. In following out their instructions, Dr. Franz Boas\nhas prepared valuable tables of measurements, both of living examples of\nthe Haidah, Tsimshian, Kwakintl, and Nootka tribes, and of crania of\nthose and other natives of the Pacific coast; but unfortunately he has\nomitted the cerebral capacity. But a large collection of crania of\ntribes lying to the south of British Columbia, now in the Peabody Museum\nof Harvard University, has furnished to Mr. Lucien Carr opportunities\nfor a series of careful measurements showing some very distinctive\ndiversities among tribes of the coast and the islands of Southern\nCalifornia. From those the following table is derived. The capacity is\ngiven in cubic centimetres; and shows not only a marked diversity in\ncerebral capacity distinguishing different island tribes, but also notes\nthe relative difference of the male and female head. Among the Indians\nof the Pacific coast are the Haidahs and others noted for exceptional\ningenuity and skill in their carvings, pottery, and other handiwork. But\nbesides the fair-skinned Haidahs and Tsimshians of the north, there are\nessentially diverse tribes of Southern California, noticeable for\nswarthy and almost black colour; and not only inferior, but essentially\ndiffering in the style of their arts.\n\n                               TABLE VIII\n\n                     CRANIA OF PACIFIC COAST TRIBES\n                  _Santa Catalina Island, California._\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\nNo. of Crania. \u2502   Sex.   \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity\n               \u2502          \u2502   Average.    \u2502   Maximum.    \u2502   Minimum.\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n      26       \u2502   Male   \u2502     1470      \u2502     1719      \u2502     1282\n      12       \u2502  Female  \u2502     1279      \u2502     1451      \u2502     1098\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n                   _San Clement\u00e9 Island, California._\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\nNo. of Crania. \u2502   Sex.   \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity\n               \u2502          \u2502   Average.    \u2502   Maximum.    \u2502   Minimum.\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n       9       \u2502   Male   \u2502     1452      \u2502     1747      \u2502     1300\n       6       \u2502  Female  \u2502     1315      \u2502     1352      \u2502     1268\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n                    _Santa Cruz Island, California._\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\nNo. of Crania. \u2502   Sex.   \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity\n               \u2502          \u2502   Average.    \u2502   Maximum.    \u2502   Minimum.\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n      45       \u2502   Male   \u2502     1365      \u2502     1625      \u2502     1144\n      35       \u2502  Female  \u2502     1219      \u2502     1528      \u2502     1040\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\n                 _Santa Barbara Islands and Mainland._\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\nNo. of Crania. \u2502   Sex.   \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity    \u2502   Capacity\n               \u2502          \u2502   Average.    \u2502   Maximum.    \u2502   Minimum.\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n       9       \u2502   Male   \u2502     1324      \u2502     1441      \u2502     1167\n       5       \u2502  Female  \u2502     1247      \u2502     1316      \u2502     1175\n               \u2502          \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nAmong exceptional features claimed as more or less a racial\ncharacteristic of American crania, the _os Inc\u00e6_, or epactal bone in the\nocciput, has been noted as present in various stages of manifestation in\n3.81 per cent; and among ancient Peruvian crania in 6.08 per cent; while\nit does not apparently exceed 2.65 per cent in the Negro; and only\nreaches 1.19 per cent in Europeans.[181] In so far as this may be\nregarded as a sign of arrested development, it is noteworthy as thus\noccurring in excess in the small-headed, yet highly ingenious and\ncivilised Peruvian race. Dr. Morton noted as a remarkable fact that the\nskull of the Peruvian child appeared to equal in size that of other\nraces; so that in a much ampler sense than in the perpetuation of a\nsuture of the occiput beyond the stage of f\u0153tal development, the\nsmall-sized skull and brain of the adult Peruvian is abnormal. But he\nfollowed out his observation of the phenomena no farther than to state,\nin summing up his investigations \u201cOn the internal capacity of the\ncranium in the different races of men:\u201d[182] \u201cRespecting the American\nrace, I have nothing to add, excepting the striking fact that of all the\nAmerican nations, the Peruvians had the smallest heads, while those of\nthe Mexicans were something larger, and those of the barbarous tribes\nthe largest of all,\u201d namely:\u2014\n\n                        { Peruvians, collectively 75    cubic  inches.\n   Toltecan Nations     {\n                        { Mexicans,        \u201e      79      \u201e       \u201e\n   Barbarous Tribes                               82      \u201e       \u201e\n\nThe enlarged tables given in the catalogue of Dr J. Aitken Meigs,\nincrease this inverse ratio of cerebral capacity, thus:\u2014\n\n    Peruvians                                                    75.3\n    Mexicans                                                     81.7\n    Barbarous Tribes                                             84.0\n\n\u201cThe great American group,\u201d he says, \u201cis, in several respects, well\nrepresented in the collection. It includes 490 crania and 13 casts,\nmaking a total of 503 from nearly 70 different nations and tribes. Of\nthis large number 256 belong to the Toltecan race (embracing the\nsemi-civilised communities of Mexico, Bogota, and Peru), and 247 to the\nbarbarous tribes scattered over the continent. Of 164 measurements of\ncrania of the barbarous tribes, the largest is 104 cubic inches; the\nsmallest 69; and the mean of all 84. One hundred and fifty-two Peruvian\nskulls give 101 cubic inches for the largest internal capacity, 58 for\nthe smallest, and 75.3 for the average of all.\u201d[183]\n\nThe results which Professor Jeffreys Wyman arrived at from a careful\ncomparative measurement of the Squier collection, were confirmed by his\nsubsequent study of that of Professor Agassiz, and may be quoted as\napplying to both; for he sums up his later investigations with the\nremark: \u201cThese results agree with all previous conclusions with regard\nto the diminutive size of the ancient Peruvian brain.\u201d[184] Of the\nSquier collection he says: \u201cThe average capacity of the fifty-six crania\nmeasured agrees very closely with that indicated by Morton and Meigs,\nnamely, 1230 centimetres, or 75 cubic inches, which is considerably less\nthan that of the barbarous tribes of America, and almost exactly that of\nthe Australians and Hottentots as given by Morton and Meigs, and smaller\nthan that derived from a larger number of measurements by Davis. Thus we\nhave, in this particular, a race which has established a complex civil\nand religious polity, and made great progress in the useful and fine\narts,\u2014as its pottery, textile fabrics, wrought metals, highways and\naqueducts, colossal architectural structures and court of almost\nimperial splendour prove,\u2014on the same level, as regards the quantity of\nbrain, with a race whose social and religious conditions are among the\nmost degraded exhibited by the human race. All this goes to show, and\ncannot be too much insisted upon, that the relative capacity of the\nskull is to be considered merely as an anatomical and not as a\nphysiological characteristic; and unless the quality of the brain can be\nrepresented at the same time as the quantity, brain measurement cannot\nbe assumed as an indication of the intellectual position of races any\nmore than of individuals.\u201d[185]\n\nThe only definite attempt of Dr. Morton to solve the difficulty thus\npresented to us, curiously evades its true point. \u201cSomething,\u201d he says,\n\u201cmay be attributed to a primitive difference of stock; but more,\nperhaps, to the contrasted activity of the two races.\u201d Here, however, it\nis not a case of intellectual activity accompanied by, and seemingly\nbegetting an increased volume of brain; but only the assumption of\ngreater activity in the small-brained race to account for its triumph\nover larger-brained barbarous tribes in the attainment of numerous\nelements of a native-born civilisation. The question is, how to account\nfor this intellectual activity, with all its marvellous results,\nattained by a race with an average brain of no greater volume than that\nof the Bushman, the Australian, or other lowest types of humanity.\n\nThe Nilotic Egyptian race, of composite ethnical character, presents\nstriking elements of comparison, in the ingenious arts and constructive\nskill of the ancient dwellers in the Nile valley; but whether we take\nthe Egyptian of the Catacombs, the Copt, or the Fellah, we seek in vain\nfor like microcephalous characteristics. Among modern races the Chinese\nexhibit many analogies in arts and social life to the ancient Peruvians;\nbut their cerebral capacity presents no correspondence to that of the\nAmerican race. Dr. Morton gives a mean capacity for the Chinese skull of\n85, as compared with the Peruvian 75.3, while Dr. Davis derives from\nnineteen skulls a mean internal capacity of 76.7 oz. av., or 93 cubic\ninches.\n\nBut another Asiatic race, that of the Hindoos\u2014also associated with a\nremarkable ancient civilisation, and a social and religious organisation\nnot without suggestive analogies both to ancient Egypt and Peru,\u2014is\nnoticeable for like microcephalous characteristics. In completing the\nanatomical measurements with which Dr. Morton closes his great work, he\nplaces the Ethiopian lowest in the scale of internal capacity of\ncranium; but, while including the Hindoo in his Caucasian group, he\nadds: \u201cIt is proper to mention that but three Hindoos are admitted in\nthe whole number, because the skulls of these people are probably\nsmaller than those of any other existing nation. For example, seventeen\nHindoo heads give a mean of but 75 cubic inches.\u201d[186] The Vedahs of\nCeylon, the Mincopies, the Negritos, and the Bushmen, appear to vie with\nthe Hindoos in smallness of skull; but all of them are races of\ndiminutive stature. This element, therefore, which has been referred to\nas important in individual comparisons, is no less necessary to be borne\nin view in determining such comparative results as those which\ndistinguish the Peruvians from other American races. Certain races are\nunquestionably distinguished from others by difference of stature.\nBarrow determined the mean height of the Bushman, from measurements of a\nwhole tribe, to be 4 ft. 3\u00bd in. D\u2019Orbigny, from nearly similar evidence,\nstates that of the Patagonians to be 5 ft. 8 in. The internal capacity\nof the Peruvian skull, as derived from eighteen male and six female\nQuichua skulls in Dr. Davis\u2019s collection, is 70, while he states that of\nthe Patagonian skull as 67 and of the Bushman as 65; but it is manifest\nthat the latter figures, if taken without reference to relative stature,\nfurnish a very partial index of the comparative volume of brain.\n\nProfessor Goodsir, as already noted, held that symmetry of brain has\nmore to do with the higher faculties than mere bulk. In the case of the\nPeruvians the systematic distortion of the skull precludes the\napplication of this test. But in the small Hindoo skull the fine\nproportions have been repeatedly noted. Dr. Davis, in describing one of\na Hindoo of unmixed blood, born in Sumatra, says: \u201cHis pretty,\ndiminutive skull is singularly contrasted with those of the races by\nwhom, alive, he was surrounded\u201d;[187] and he adds: \u201cThe great agreement\nof the elegant skulls of Hindoos in their types and proportions,\nalthough not in dimensions, with those of European races, has afforded\nsome support to that widespread and learned illusion, \u2018the Indo-European\nhypothesis.\u2019 The Hindoo skulls are generally beautiful models of form in\nminiature.\u201d\n\nMr. Alfred R. Wallace, in his _Malay Archipelago_, discusses the value\nof cranial measurements for ethnological purposes; and, employing those\nfurnished by Dr. J. B. Davis in his _Thesaurus Craniorum_ as a \u201cmeans of\ndetermining whether the forms and dimensions of the crania of the\neastern races would in any way support or refute his classification of\nthem,\u201d he finally selected as the best tests for his purpose\u20141. The\ncapacity of the cranium; 2. The proportion of the width to the length\ntaken as 100; 3. The proportion of the height to the length taken as\n100. But here again, unfortunately, the systematic distortion of the\nPeruvian skull limits us to the first of those tests. There are, indeed,\nthe eleven normal Peruvian crania selected as such from the numerous\nAncon skulls brought by Professor Agassiz from Peru. But those are\nstated by Professor Wyman to be on an average less by six inches than\nthe ordinary skull. Some partial results embodied in the following table\nadmit of comparison with those based on the more ample data of Table X.\nDr. Lucae, in his _Zur Organischen Formenlehre_, gives the cranial\ncapacity of single skulls of different races, selected as examples of\neach. In these, as in others already referred to, the capacity was\ndetermined with peas; and the results\u2014assumed to be given in Prussian\nounces,\u2014are dealt with here, as in the skulls of Heinse and B\u00fcnger. The\nexperiments carried on for the purpose of testing the process fully\nconfirmed the results stated by Professor Wyman as to the differences in\napparent cubical capacity according to the material employed. Taking a\nsound Huron Indian skull, a mean internal capacity of 1490 grms. was\nobtained by repeatedly gauging it with peas, and of 1439.5 with rice.\nThe position of the Negro, heading the list, serves to show the\nexceptional nature of the evidence; though this is rather due to the\ninferiority of other examples, such as the Chinese and Greenlander, than\nto its capacity greatly exceeding the Negro mean. In the first column\nthe unzen, as Prussian ounces, are rendered in grammes. The second\ncolumn gives the nearer approximation to the true specific gravity,\naccording to the standard referred to, based on a series of experiments\ncarried out under my direction in the laboratory of the University of\nToronto, and assuming 82.5 grms. of peas to occupy the space of 100\ngrms. of water. The third and fourth columns represent the estimated\nbrain-weight, after the requisite deductions, on the basis of s.g. of\nbrain as 1.0408.\n\n                                TABLE IX\n\n                                 LUCAE\n\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n               \u2502   Internal    \u2502 Internal Cap. \u2502 Brain-Weight. \u2502  Brain-\n               \u2502   Capacity.   \u2502  Corrected.   \u2502     Grms.     \u2502 weight.\n               \u2502     Grms.     \u2502     Grms.     \u2502               \u2502 Oz. Av.\n               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\nNegro          \u2502    1169.28    \u2502    1424.12    \u2502    1281.71    \u2502   45.2\nChinese        \u2502    1081.58    \u2502    1364.48    \u2502    1228.04    \u2502   43.4\nNubian         \u2502    1041.24    \u2502    1313.54    \u2502    1182.19    \u2502   41.7\nFloris         \u2502    1033.93    \u2502    1304.38    \u2502    1173.94    \u2502   41.4\nPapuan         \u2502    1030.42    \u2502    1299.95    \u2502    1169.96    \u2502   41.3\nGreenlander    \u2502    1023.12    \u2502    1290.74    \u2502    1161.67    \u2502   41.0\nJavanese       \u2502     995.06    \u2502    1254.54    \u2502    1129.91    \u2502   39.8\n               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nIn the following table the examples are derived from Dr. J. B. Davis\u2019s\ntables, with the exception of the Peruvians. For these I have availed\nmyself of Dr. Jeffreys Wyman\u2019s careful observations on the large\ncollection in the Peabody Museum, the results of which confirm Dr.\nMorton\u2019s earlier data. One further fact, however, may be noted as a\nresult of my own study of Peruvian crania, amply confirmed by the\npublished observations of others, namely, that while the Peruvian head\nunquestionably ranks among those of the microcephalous races, the range\nof variation among the Peruvian coast tribes appears to be less than\nthat even of the Australian. Of this there is good evidence, based on\nthe comparison of several hundred crania. But exceptional examples of\nunusually large skulls may be looked for in all races; and a few of such\nabnormal Peruvian or other skulls would modify the mean capacities and\nweights in the following table. Nevertheless the average results, as a\nwhole, are probably a close approximation to the truth:\u2014\n\n                                TABLE X\n\n                 COMPARATIVE CEREBRAL CAPACITY OF RACES\n\n   \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                       \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n                       \u2502               \u2502   Capacity.   \u2502 Brain-Weight.\n          Race.        \u2502    Number.    \u2502 Cubic Inches. \u2502    Oz. Av.\n                       \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n   \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n                       \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n   European            \u2502      299      \u2502     92.3      \u2502     47.12\n   English             \u2502       21      \u2502     93.1      \u2502     47.50\n   Asiatic             \u2502      124      \u2502     87.1      \u2502     44.44\n   Chinese             \u2502       25      \u2502     92.1      \u2502     47.00\n   Hindoos             \u2502       35      \u2502     82.5      \u2502     42.11\n   Negroes             \u2502       16      \u2502     86.4      \u2502     44.08\n   Negro Tribes        \u2502       69      \u2502     85.2      \u2502     43.47\n   American Indians    \u2502       52      \u2502     87.5      \u2502     44.64\n   Mexicans            \u2502       25      \u2502     81.7      \u2502     41.74\n   Peruvians           \u2502       56      \u2502     75.0      \u2502     38.25\n   Eskimos             \u2502       13      \u2502     91.2      \u2502     46.56\n   Oceanic             \u2502      210      \u2502     89.4      \u2502     45.63\n   Javans              \u2502       30      \u2502     87.5      \u2502     44.64\n   Australians         \u2502       24      \u2502     81.1      \u2502     41.38\n                       \u2502               \u2502               \u2502\n   \u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\n\nLooking for some definite results from the various data here produced,\nthe deductions which they seem to suggest may be thus stated. While\nProfessor Wyman justly remarks that the relative capacity of the skull,\nand consequently of the encephalon, is to be considered as an anatomical\nand not as a physiological characteristic, relative largeness of the\nbrain is nevertheless one of the most distinguishing attributes of man.\nAmple cerebral development is the general accompaniment of intellectual\ncapacity, alike in individuals and races; and microcephaly, when it\npasses below well-defined limits, is no longer compatible with rational\nintelligence; though it amply suffices for the requirements of the\nhighest anthropomorpha. Wagner thus definitely refers the special\ncharacteristics which separate man from the irrational creation to one\nmember of the encephalon: \u201cThe relation of the lobes of the cerebrum to\nintelligence may, perhaps, be expressed thus: there is a certain\ndevelopment of the mass of the cerebrum, especially of the convolutions,\nrequisite in order to such a development of intelligence as divides man\nfrom other animals.\u201d\n\nThe important data accumulated by Morton, Meigs, Davis, Tiedemann,\nPruner-Bey, Broca, and others, by the process of gauging the skulls of\ndifferent races, proceeds on the assumption of brain of a uniform\ndensity. But it seems by no means improbable that certain marked\ndistinctions in races may be traceable to the very fact of a prevailing\ndifference in the specific gravity of the brain, or of certain of its\nconstituent portions; to the greater or less complexity of its\nconvolutions; and to the relative characteristics of the two\nhemispheres. Moreover, it may be that some of those sources of\ndifference in races may not lie wholly out of our reach, or even beyond\nour control. The diversity of food, for example, of the Peruvians and of\nthe American Indian hunter tribes was little less than that which\ndistinguishes the Eskimo from the Hindoo, or the nomad Tartar from the\nChinese. The remarkable cerebral capacity characteristic of the Oceanic\nraces is the accompaniment of well-defined peculiarities in food,\nclimate, and other physical conditions; and Australia is even more\ndistinct in its physical specialties than in its variety of race.\n\nLooking then to the unwonted persistency of the Peruvian cranium within\nsuch narrow limits, so far at least as the physical characteristics of\nthe predominant population of Peru are illustrated by means of the great\nCoast cemeteries; and to the striking discrepancy between the volume of\nbrain and the intellectual activity of the race; I am led to the\nconclusion that, in the remarkable exceptional characteristics thus\nestablished by the study of this class of Peruvian crania, we have as\nmarked an indication of a distinctive race-character as anything\nhitherto noted in anthropology.\n\n-----\n\n[152] _The Descent of Man_, Part I. chap. iv.\n\n[153] _Insanity and its Treatment_, by G. F. Blandford, M.D., p. 10.\n\n[154] _Mr. Darwin\u2019s Critics: Critiques and Addresses._\n\n[155] Vogt, _Lectures on Man_, Lecture III.\n\n[156] _Journal of Mental Science_, vol. xii. p. 23.\n\n[157] _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. clviii. p. 505.\n\n[158] _Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society_, vol. xl.\n\n[159] The internal capacity of 59 oz. is given here from the _Thesaurus\nCraniorum_, p. 40, in correction of that of 50 oz. stated in the memoir\nin _Transactions of the Dutch Society of Sciences_, Haarlem, p. 21,\nwhich may be presumed to be a misprint. Dr. Davis adds, in the\n_Thesaurus Craniorum_: \u201cAn early closure of the sutures has occasioned a\nstunted growth of the brain, especially of its convolutions, and thus\nprevented the development of those structures and faculties which might\nhave given a different direction to his lower propensities\u201d; and he\njustly adds his conviction that this was a case rather for timely\ntreatment as a dangerous idiot, than for punishment as a criminal.\n\n[160] _Report of British Association_, 1861.\n\n[161] _Journal Anthrop. Inst._, vol. iv. p. 464.\n\n[162] _Limits of Natural Selection, as applied to Man._\n\n[163] _Bull. de la Soc. d\u2019Anthropologie de Paris_, 1861, ii. p. 501;\n1862, iii. p. 192.\n\n[164] _Mem. Anthropol. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 65.\n\n[165] _Crania \u00c6gyptiaca_, p. 21.\n\n[166] _Vide_ \u201cPhysical Characteristics of the Ancient and Modern Celt\u201d:\n_Canadian Journal_, vol. vii. p. 369.\n\n[167] _Thesaurus Craniorum_ (Appendix), p. 347.\n\n[168] _Arch\u00e6ologia Scotica_, vol. ii. p. 450.\n\n[169] _Phrenological Development of Robert Burns_, by George Combe, p.\n7.\n\n[170] The use of different standards of weights and measures, and of\ndiverse materials for determining the capacity of the skull in different\ncountries, greatly complicates the researches of the craniologist. Some\npains have been taken here to bring the various weights and measurements\nto a common standard. In attempting to do so in reference to the weight\nof brain of Italy\u2019s great poet, the following process was adopted: It\nwas ascertained by experiment that 912.5 grms. of rice, well shaken\ndown, occupied the space of 1000 grms. of water. Hence 3.1321 lbs.\nrice = 3.4324 water. Multiplying this by 1.04, the s.g. of brain, the\nresult is the capacity of the skull, viz. 3.5697 lbs., or 57 oz., as\ngiven above. In this and other investigations embodied in the present\npaper, I was indebted to the valuable co-operation of my late friend and\ncolleague, Professor H. H. Croft.\n\n[171] Dr. J. B. Davis, Supp. _Thesaurus Craniorum_, p. 7.\n\n[172] Sir H. Holland\u2019s _Recollections of Past Life_, p. 254.\n\n[173] _The Descent of Man_, vol. i. p. 120. Appleton ed.\n\n[174] _Memoirs of Anthrop. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 289. _Thesaurus\nCraniorum_, p. 49.\n\n[175] Grey\u2019s _Elegy_.\n\n[176] _Mem. Anthropol. Soc. London_, vol. i. p. 465.\n\n[177] _Peabody Museum Annual Report_, 1868, p. 7.\n\n[178] _Journal of Anthropol. Inst._, vol. iii. p. 92.\n\n[179] _Crania Americana_, p. 260.\n\n[180] _Ibid._, p. 132.\n\n[181] _Crania Americana_, p. 261.\n\n[182] Same as Footnote 181.\n\n[183] _Introductory Note, Catalogue_, p. 10.\n\n[184] _Peabody Museum Report_, 1874, p. 10.\n\n[185] _Ibid_. 1871, p. 11.\n\n[186] _Crania Americana_, p. 261.\n\n[187] _Thesaurus Craniorum_, p. 148.\n\n\n\n\n                                 INDEX\n\n\nAbbeville, bones of extinct mammalia at, 154\nAbbot, Dr. Charles C., _Primitive Industry of the Native Races_, quoted,\n  89, 98;\n  discoveries at Trenton, 100, 158, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 180\nAbercrombie, Dr., 374, 376\nAdam, M. Lucien, papers by, 19\nAfrica, circumnavigation of, in 611 B.C., 9\nAfrican hybrid, the, 311\nAgassiz, Professor, 20, 150, 216, 375, 376, 385, 390, 396, 399\nAkkad, language of the Sumerian class, 27\nAlaska, peopled by Eskimo, 66, 234\nAleutian Island, 66, 117\nAlgonkins, 18, 66, 106, 173, 206, 207, 216, 229, 234, 237, 241, 243, 244,\n  248, 252, 254, 265, 268, 270, 274, 275, 276, 280, 281, 282, 300, 304,\n  318\nAlleghans, 106, 172, 174, 175\nAllig\u00e9wi, 103, 172, 215, 251, 253, 267, 269, 273, 287\nAlphabet, Indian, 237\nAlton, find of flint implements, 97\nAndaman Islander, 348, 387\nAndastes, 253\nAndastogues, 253\nAnderdon, Indian reserve, 280, 284, 295, 306\nAnne, Queen, gift to the Mohawks, 314\n_Antiquitates American\u00e6_, 51, 57, 58, 61\nApaches, 175, 229\nArapahoes, 235\nArifrode\u2019s Icelandic Saga, 51\nArnold, Dr., 137\nArrowhead-makers, 224\nArtist, the Indian, 193\nAshbrandsson, Biorn, 37\nAssiniboins, 120, 121\nAthabaska river, 121, 126\nAthabascan, language of, 18\nAtkinson, Henry George, 353\nAtlantis, legend of, 1;\n  supposed geographical position, 2\nAttiwendaronks, 177, 220, 254, 256, 277, 278, 282, 294\nAughey, Professor, 148\nAvalldamon, Skr\u00e6ling chief, 69\nAymaras, 387, 389\nAztecs, 20, 103, 238, 268, 287, 387\n\nBabeens, 90, 121, 207, 312\nBacon, quoted, 34\nBancroft\u2019s _Native Races of the Pacific States_, quoted, 6, 70\nBarlow, Dr. H. C., 369\nBasket-work, 224\nBastian, 343\nBateman, 83, 188\nBatoche, 334\nBauchman\u2019s Beach, arrow-makers of, 128\nBay of Quint\u00e9, 314\nBearfoot, Rev. Isaac, 302\nBear Skin, a Haidah chief, and Judge Pemberton, 211\nBeatty, Mr., 326\nBeechy, Captain, 204\nBelgium caves, 357\nBell, Dr. Robert, 101, 120, 125, 126\nBentham, Jeremy, 352\nBerkeley landed at Rhode Island in 1728, 79\nBertram, the Cherokees described by, 173\nBible, Indian, translation of, 298, 299\nBlackfeet, 120, 175, 178, 206, 226, 229, 234, 312, 329, 333\nBlankets, drawings on Haidah, 211\nBoas, Dr. Franz, 393\nBone implements, 167\nBorlase, 83\nBoucher de Perthes, M., 5, 88, 91, 112\nBoyd, Dr., 367, 377, 380, 381, 382\nBoyle, Robert, 289\nBrain, the weight in proportion to the body, 341\nBrain, the average weight of, 353, 360\nBrant, a native chief, 321\nBrasseur de Bourbourg, Abb\u00e9, 5\nBrazil, discovery of, 13, 38;\n  caves, 148, 149\nBrewster, Sir David, 182\nBrinton, Dr., 14, 20, 28, 241, 243\nBritish Association at Montreal, 61, 69\nBritish Columbia, tribes of, 115, 324\nBrown, George, 376\n\u2014\u2014 J. Allan, 88\nBrownell\u2019s _Indian Races_, 251\nBroca, Professor, 354, 357, 358, 373, 376, 377, 381, 402\nBronze, sword, leaf-shaped, 85;\n  workers in, 95\nBruce, King Robert the, 354, 369, 374\nBuckland\u2019s, Dean, _Reliqui\u00e6 Diluvian\u00e6_, 145\nBuffalo, 178, 325\nBuffalo robe, pictured, 35, 89\nBulmer, J. Y., 55\nB\u00fcnger, Professor, 372, 374\nBurns\u2019s head, 369, 374, 379\nBusk, Professor, 390\nBuslyde, Hierome, 76\nByron, 355, 375, 376\n\nCabral, Pedro Alvares de, 12, 45\nCaliban, references to, 74, 84, 247\nCalori, Professor C. L., 342\nCampbell, Lord Chancellor, 376, 385\nCanarses of Long Island, 269\nCaniengas, or Flint People, 264, 285, 294\nCape Breton Island, 53, 54, 69\nCape Cod, 62\nCarantouans, 253\nCaribbees, shell-workers of the, 94\nCaribs, 190\nCarpenter, Dr., 336\nCarr, Lucien, 393\nCartier, Jacques, 53, 176, 253, 262, 268, 274, 275, 277, 280, 281, 282,\n  295\nCarved lodge-poles, 210, 212\nCassiterides, 181\nCatawbas, 103, 173, 274\nCatlin, Mr., artist, 123\nCaughnawaga, 306\nCave-men, 152, 153, 165, 195, 196\nCayugas, 253, 278, 289, 294, 297, 305, 318\nCentennial Exposition of Philadelphia in 1876, 166\nChalmers, Dr., 376, 378, 385\nChamplain, 252, 268, 274, 275, 276, 277, 281\nCharlevoix, P\u00e8re, 117, 277\nCharles River, 49\nCharlton, B. E., 220\nChattahoochee River, 97\nChatta-Muskogees, 103, 173\nCherohakahs, 253, 296\nCherokees, 103, 172, 173, 174, 253, 274, 287, 298\nChesapeake Bay, 269\nCheyennes, 175, 229\nChickasaws, 103, 286\nChichenitza sculptured tablets, 34\nChimpseyans, 121, 138, 207, 208\nChina, money of, 22\nChincha, Indians of, 391\nChinooks, 130, 134, 227, 234, 312\nChippeways, 121, 124, 134, 225, 312, 318, 329, 351\nChoctaws, 103, 173, 286, 287\nChuakouet, grape vine at, in 1606, 53\nCisneros, Dr., 362\nCissbury, flint pits at, 92\nClalam Indians, 121, 138, 312\nClarke, Hyde, _Examination of the Legend_, quoted, 2;\n  _Khita and Khita-Peruvian Epoch_, quoted, 4, 26\nClarke, Lockhart, 340\nClatsops, 130, 226, 234\nClaussen, M., 148\nCliff dwellings, 135\nCloyne, Bishop of, 77\nColbert, shipment of emigrants under direction of, 316\nColes, the, 348\nColumbus, 1, 7, 11, 13, 37, 40, 72, 73, 74, 77, 131, 325\nColumns, ornamental, 209\nComanches, 175\nCombe, George, 369\nComparative cerebral capacity of races, 400, 401\nCompass, the, of the Norse rovers, 12\nConestogas, 253\nCook, Captain, 14\nCopan, statue at, 34, 35\nCopenhagen, rune-stones at, 42, 56\nCopper of Lake Superior, 35, 115, 170, 179, 262, 313;\n  of Mexico, 179, 181\n\u2014\u2014 implements, 106, 116, 179, 182, 212, 262\n\u2014\u2014 ornaments, 116, 212\n\u2014\u2014 smelting, 180\nCoral islands of the Pacific, 21\nCorrea, Pedro, 74\nCorvo, coins found at, 9, 36\nCowlitz, 130, 226, 227, 312\nCrania of Pacific coast tribes, 394\nCreeks, 103, 274\nCrees, 175, 178, 206, 227, 229, 312, 329, 333\nCresson, H. T., 99, 100, 162\nCristineaux, 143, 323\nCromagnon cavern, 85, 357, 358, 361\nCross-ness, 61\nCumshewa, 115\nCunningham\u2019s Island, 177, 278\nCurtius, Professor, 10\nCushing, Mr., 244, 300\nCusick, David, 252, 277\nCuvier, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377\nCuoq, M., 297\nCuzco, 389\n\nDakota, 229, 256\nDakotan, language of, 18, 296\nDall, W. H., 117, 152, 205, 323\nD\u2019Allyon, Father, 177\nDalton, Dr., 352\nDante, 368, 369, 374\nDarwin, 339, 372\nDavis, Dr. J. Barnard, 117, 342, 344, 345, 347, 348, 349, 355, 362, 365,\n  366, 370, 373, 383, 390, 391, 397, 398, 400, 402\n\u2014\u2014 Straits, 65\nDawkins, Professor Boyd, 150, 151, 152, 165, 358, 359\nDawson, Dr. G. M., 114, 120, 125\n\u2014\u2014 S. J., 330\nDawson\u2019s, Sir W., _Fossil Men_, 219\nDelaware gravel beds, 98, 158\nDelawares, 103, 175, 251, 269\nDe Leon, Pedro de Cieza, 391\nDenham, Admiral H. M., 347\nDesigns on pottery, Indian, 121, 189, 190, 195, 220;\n  by cave-men, 196\nDe Quatrefages, Professor, 206, 215, 216\nDe Quincey, 378\n_Descriptio insularum aquilonis_, 52\nDe Soto, 173\nDighton Rock, 46, 47, 54, 61, 79, 206\nDirichlet, the mathematician, 376\nDobson, G. E., 348, 349\nDonnelly\u2019s _Atlantis_, 6\nDooyentate, Peter, 252, 274, 276, 295\nD\u2019Orbigny, 143, 398\nDordogne cave, 239;\n  valley, 64\nDorion, L, A., 296\nDowler, Dr., 149, 150, 154\nDrawings of Animals, Indian, 217\nDupuytren, Surgeon, 376, 386\nDyes employed by Indians, 240-243\n\nEaling, pal\u00e6olithic workshop at, 88\nEarthworks, 105, 117\nEdda, Red Indian, 178\nEgilsson, Sveinbiorn, 51\nEider ducks, 59\nEliot, Indian Bible of, 298\nEl Moro rock, 231\nEmigrants to New York, 32;\n  to Canada, 316\nEngis cave, 359\nEric Saga, 165\nEric the Red, 41, 44, 52, 59, 62\nEries, 172, 177, 254, 277, 278, 294\nEriksson, Leif, 44, 49, 51, 53, 58, 59, 62, 71\nEriksson, Thorwald, 49, 54, 66\nErlendsson Hauk, 71\nEskimo: a typical Mongol, 17, 18;\n  in Greenland, 43, 64;\n  migrations of, 65;\n  in Alaska, 66;\n  implements of, 84;\n  pedigree, 133;\n  half-breed in Labrador, 144, 151;\n  implements of, 152, 153, 159, 165, 204;\n  and cave-men, 203;\n  designs by, 213, 234, 240, 247, 248, 267, 272;\n  cranium of, 274;\n  powers of endurance, 323\nEvans, Sir John, 81, 155\nEwaipanoma, 247\nEyrbyggja Saga, 70\n\nFarish, Dr. J. G., 54, 55\nFarms, allocation of, 328\nFijians, 192\nFiguier, M., 193\nFive Nations, the, 260, 275, 286, 289\nFlathead Indians, 130, 312\nFlint as a fire-producer, 81\nFlint Ridge, 101, 102, 111\nFlint River, 126\nFlint-workers, 92\nFlores, island, 74\nFlower, Professor, 17, 18\nForbes, Edward, 216\nFort M\u2019Leod, Alberta, 115\nFoscolo, Ugo, 370, 374\nFoster, Dr. J. W., 149, 179, 180\nFox, Colonel A. Lane, 92\nFranklin, 379\nFredericksburg, 118\nFrench half-breeds, 330\nFrere John, 87, 88\nFreydisa, 62, 68\nFuchs, pathologist, 376\nFuegians of Tierra del Fuego, 84\nFurdustrandir, 59, 63\n\nGallatin, 173, 253, 256, 286, 295, 296, 298\nGama, Vasco da, voyage of, 9, 12\nGamlison Thorhall, 58\nGanton, flint flakes at, 95\nGarcilasso de la Vega, 391\nGarnett, Rev. Richard, 28\nGaronne, valleys of, 150, 151\nGarrison, W. Lloyd, 225\nGauss, the mathematician, 370, 376\nGeikie, Professor, 154\nGellisson Thorkell, 51\nGesture-language, 229, 233, 235\nGibbs, General Alfred, 221\nGibbs, George, 227\nGilbert, Sir Humphrey, 50\nGiles, Peter, 76\nGilmour, Rev. J., 330\nGold, first metal wrought, 35\nGoheen, Dr., 362\nGold ornaments, 181, 212, 223, 388\nGomara, 74\nGoodsir, Professor, 343, 375, 398\nGosse, Dr. L. A., 188\nGr\u00e6nlendingath\u00e0ttr, 62\nGrand river reserves, 306, 314, 316\nGrapes, wild, of North America, 48, 53, 60, 62\nGrave Creek Stone, 214\nGrave mounds, 116\nGrave-posts, pictured, 35\nGraves, flint implements in, 95, 96\nGreenland, 41, 43, 53, 60, 63, 65\nGreenwell, Rev. Canon, 83, 93, 95, 96\n_Grenlands Historiske Mindesm\u00e6rker_, 40\nGrimolfson Bjarne, 58\nGrinnel Leads, 97\nGrote, 376, 386\nGrupson, Erik, 49\nGudleif, a Norse leader, 38\nGudrida, Karlsefne\u2019s wife, 67\nGuysborough, 53\nGwyneth, Owen, 38\n\nHaidahs, of Queen Charlotte Islands, 90, 115, 116, 121, 130, 134, 138,\n  204, 207, 208, 209, 211, 393\nHake, the Scot, 58, 59, 60, 61\nHaki, a Scot, 59, 60\nHakluyt, 50\nHale, Horatio, on currency in China, 22;\n  grammar of the Hurons, 103;\n  _Indian Migrations_, 140, 172, 235;\n  _Iroquois Rites_, 237, 252, 253, 256, 263, 264, 268, 280, 287, 293, 296,\n    303\nHalf-breeds, 143, 144;\n  powers of endurance, 323\nHalliburton, R. G., 69\nHamilton, Sir. W., 380\nHamlet, quoted, 96\nHanno, voyage of, 9\nHarkussen, 58, 60, 61\nHarriot, 74\nHarrison, Chief Justice, 376\n_Hauks V\u00f3k_, 71\nHausmann, 376\nHawkins, Sir John, 50\nHeinse, J. J. W., 371, 374\nHelluland, 45, 52, 59, 62, 70\nHenry the Navigator, 11\n\u2014\u2014 a traveller of last century, 143, 323\nHerjulfson, Bjarni, 44, 60, 71\nHermann, 376, 386\nHiawatha, quoted, 265, 268\nHieroglyphics, Indian, 230, 231\nHind, Professor, 330\nHindoos, 397\nHittite capital, Ketesh, 30\nHoare, Sir R. C., 82, 83\nHochelaga, 221, 270, 272, 274, 275, 276, 278, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284,\n  293, 295\nHodges, Robert, 84\nHoffman, Dr. J. W., 195, 205, 210, 233\nHolland, Sir Henry, 371\nHoly Island, 42\nH\u00f3p, Mount Hope Bay, 60, 61, 63\nHoretskey, Charles, 323\nHorn, engraving on, 94, 197\nHorsford, Professor E. N., 49\nHoxme, flint implements found at, 89\nHuid\u0153rk inscription, 57\nHumboldt, 35, 169, 248, 260\nHunter, Archdeacon, 330, 331\nHurons, 65, 101, 176, 177, 224, 280, 318, 319\nHuron-Iroquois, language of, 18, 64, 65, 66, 139, 172, 246 _et seq._\nHuschke, 341, 364\nHutchinson, T. J., 390\nHuxley, Professor, quoted, 248, 308, 340, 351, 352, 359, 374\n\nIceland, 41, 43, 44\nIcelandic Sagas, 51, 70\nIdols of the Haidah, 209\nIgalikko runic monuments, 36\nIlium, 168\nIllinois, 175\nIncas, 389\nIndians of California, money of, 23\nIndian lodge, 211\nInnuit designs, 213\nIroquois, 103, 106, 107, 172, 173, 175, 176, 177, 229, 234, 237, 244, 245,\n  316, 318\nIsle de Bacchus, 53\n\u2014\u2014 of Orleans, 53\n\u2014\u2014 Royale, 116\nIvory, 94, 138, 151, 153, 197, 217\n\nJeffrey, Lord, 378\nJemez Indians, 232\nJones, Colonel C. C., 148, 180\nJossakeeds, 224\nJowett\u2019s, Professor, _Dialogues of Plato_, quoted, 1\nJugs, double-necked, 223\nJulian calendar, 34\n\nKablunet, 65\nKalapurgas, 227\nKane, Paul, 121, 130, 227, 228, 312, 324\n\u2014\u2014 Dr., 144, 323\nKanienga, 174\nKarlsefne, Thorfinn, 41, 49, 58, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 71\nKarlseven, 54\nKeel-ness, 61\nKeenan, Mr., 119\nKent\u2019s Hole, 84\nKentucky skulls, 389\nKettle, stone, 84\nKewenaw peninsula, 106, 116\nKhita or Hittites, 10\nKialarnes, 68\nKiat\u00e9gamut Indians, 205\nKiawakaskaia, 226\nKingiktorsoak runic monuments, 36, 57\nKingsborough, Lord, 239\nKioosta village on Graham Island, 212\nKjalarnes, 53\nKlaskane Indians, 130\nKlikatat, 227\nKona, 65\nKonegan, 66\nKrossanes, 63\n\nLabrador (Helluland), 62\nLa-crosse clubs, 224\nLaennec, Dr., 347\nLa Jeune Lorette, 276\nLake-dwellings of Switzerland, 90\nLake Simcoe, 283\nLa Madeleine cave, 213\nLamb, Charles, quoted, 235\nLane, 74\nLanguages\u2014Huron-Iroquois, 257, 281;\n  Indian, 66, 255;\n  Mohawk, 291;\n  significance of, 15;\n  of uncivilised races, 17\nLa Salle, 110, 269\nLatham, Dr., 182, 248, 260, 263\nLaugerie Basse, cave at, 206, 359\nLeague of the Hodenosauneega, 174\nLeavenworth, 111\nLeft-hand drawings, 197\nLeidy, Professor Joseph, 89, 156\nLe Moyne, Father, 278\nLenape, 172, 214, 229, 241, 269\nLenni-Lenape, 251\nLes Eysies, cave of, 216\nLewis, Professor H. C., 99, 163\nLewis, Edmonia, 225\nLindsay, Sir David, 76\nLion from Marash, 30\nLion of Pir\u00e6us, 30\nListon, Robert, 369\nLittle Falls, Minnesota, 148\nLocke\u2019s _Journal_, 176\nLombrive cave, 359\nLongfellow, quoted, 178\nLong, Major J. H., 123\nLorette, 275, 283, 295, 319\nLos Ojos Calientes, 232\nLucae, Dr. J. C. Gustav, 371, 399\nLukins, Mr., 123\nLund, Dr., 148, 149\nLuschan, Dr. F. von, 309\nLyell\u2019s, Sir Charles, _Principles of Geology_, quoted, 6, 145, 154\nLynx or wild cat, 177\n\nMacaulay, Lord, 378\nM\u2019Dowell, Dr., 362\nMacEnery, J., 147\nMackenzie, Major Colin, 83\nMacrocephali, 363\nMadoc, a Welsh prince, 38\nMaeshowe, Orkney, 30, 42\nMagnusen, Finn, 51\nMalay race, 192\nMalformation, artificial, 24\nMammoth, bones of, 88;\n  carvings of, 213, 217\nMandans, 175\nMangue language, 28\nManhattans, 269\nManitoba, 184\nMaps, earliest, 53\n\u2014\u2014 by Rafn, 62\n\u2014\u2014 of Vinland, 49\nMarchand\u2019s voyage, 208\nMarkham, Mr., 391\nMarkland, 57, 59, 69\nMartin, Hugh, 240\nMartineau, Harriet, 352\nMascagni, 362, 385\nMassat, cave of, 216\nMass\u00e9nat, M., 215\nMayas, 13, 25, 31, 387\nMeigs, Dr. J. Aitken, 247, 395, 396, 402\nMelanochroi or dark whites, 308\n_M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_, 51\nMentone, skeleton found at, 359\nMercer, H. C., 214\nMetallurgy, American, 35\nMetis, the, 311\nMexican calendar, 33, 169\n\u2014\u2014 sculptured monuments, 39\n\u2014\u2014 terra-cotta human masks, 215\nMexicans, 190\nMexico, ruins of, 137\nMicmacs, 55, 64, 65, 125, 242, 318, 319\nMiddleton, General, 334\nMiller, Joaquin, 325\nMillicet Indians, 55, 65\nMilton\u2019s _Paradise Lost_, 50\nMinsi, 175\nMississagas, 318\nMissouries, 274\nMoccasins, 224\nMohawks, 174, 253, 264, 289, 290, 294, 297, 299, 302, 305, 314, 318\nMoney, Origin of Primitive, 22\nMontgomery\u2019s _Greenland_ epic, 46\nMore, Sir Thomas, 75, 76, 77\nMorgan, Hon. L. H., 174, 265, 285\nMoro rock, 230\nMorris, Hon. Alexander, 326, 327\n\u2014\u2014 William, quoted, 37, 71\nMorton, Dr., 247, 261, 337, 344, 345, 348, 362, 365, 366, 371, 387, 392,\n  395, 396, 397, 400, 402\nMound builders, 102, 103, 104, 108, 167, 214, 215, 267, 270, 273\nMount Hope Bay, 46\nM\u00fcller, Professor Max, 19, 266, 290, 291\nMunch, Professor, 51\nMusical instruments in the form of animals, 222\nMuskogees, 106, 173, 286\n\nNaaman\u2019s Creek, rock shelter, 99\nNanticokes, 254, 269\nNantucket, 45\nNapoleon, 376, 377\nNarraganset Bible, 28\nNasquallie, 312\nNatchez, 103, 106, 173\nNaticokes, 175\nNavajo Expedition, 230, 231\nNeanderthal skull, 354, 359, 373\nNeepigon River, 119, 121, 236, 351\nNegroes, brain-weights of, 362, 363, 385, 395\nNeolithians, 309\nNewark earthworks, 102\nNewatees, 130, 312\nNew England, 64\nNewfoundland, 53\nNew Jersey, old implement-maker at, 90, 98\nNew Orleans, skeleton of, 161\nNewport in Narragansett Bay, 79\n\u201cNina,\u201d the, 75\nNipissing, Lake, 125\nNisqually, 227\nNootkas, 134, 227\nNorth Fork, 117\nNorumbega, ancient city of, 50\nNott, Dr. J. C., 247, 375\nNottawa saga, 304\nNottoways, 253, 296, 305\nNova Scotia, 45, 47, 53, 54, 59, 61, 64\n\nOar, with runic inscription, 43\nOhio Holy Stone, 214\nOhio Valley, earthworks of, 38, 101\nOjibways, 206, 242, 243, 245, 252, 257, 268\nOka, 306\nOlaf, the Saint, 37\nO\u2019Meara, Rev. Dr., 236\nOneidas, 174, 253, 264, 285, 286, 289, 294, 297, 305, 318\nOnondagas, chief, 178, 237, 253, 260, 264, 278, 286, 289, 294, 305, 318\nOntonagon, 116\nOrang, brain of, 340\nOrinoco River, 72\nOronhyatekha, Dr., 296, 298, 302\nOsages, 274\nOtouacha, 275\nOttawas, 318\nOttoes, 274\nOwen, Professor, 339, 346, 348\n\nPabahmesad, the old Chippewa, 224\nPacasset River, 46, 62\nPaisley Block, 101\nPalenque, sculptured tablets, 34, 35\nParker, Rev. Samuel, 227\nParkman, Francis, 248, 262, 275, 278\nPatagonians of Tierra del Fuego, 84\nPaton, Sir Noel, 197\nPatterson, George, 126\nPattison, Rev. Mark, _note_ 228\nPavloff, Ivan, 324\nPeacock, Dr., 343, 362, 367, 377, 381\nPeat mosses of Denmark and Ireland, 90\nPequot, 320\nPerkins, Mr., 179, 180\nPeruvian, natives, 190;\n  pottery, 215;\n  skulls, 387, 388;\n  crania, 395\nPetun Indians, 101\nPhiladelphia gravel beds, 99\nPhillips, H., jun., 57, 59, 60\nPh\u0153nician, Cadmus, 35\nPicard, Paul, 295, 296\nPickering, Dr. Charles, 24, 227, 260\nPictou harbour, 54\nPicture-writing, 33, 40, 233, 238, 239, 244\nPierce, William, 320\n\u201cPinta,\u201d the, 75\nPir\u00e6us, lion of, 42\nPlato\u2019s _Critias_, quoted, 1, 2, 75\nPoint Oken, 122\nPopulation, and number of villages, 275;\n  coloured, 311, 318, 324, 329\nPorpoise, brain of, 341\nPort Dover, implements at, 101\nPotomac, rock at the, 57\nPottawattomies, 318\nPottery, 153, 167, 168, 171, 189, 192, 194, 218, 219, 220, 240, 262, 267,\n  271, 273, 282, 388\nPowell, York, 62\nPowhattan, 269\nPre-Aryan Man, 130 _et seq._\nPre-Columbian America, Copenhagen volume on, 43, 131;\n  intercourse between Europe and America, 7\nPrescott, 285\nPrestwich, Professor, 162\nPritchard, Dr., 16\n_Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, 57\nPruner-Bey, Dr., 356, 402\nPueblo Indians, 190, 231, 236, 240, 244, 299\n\nQuebec and the Huron Indians, 251\nQuichuas, 387, 389;\n  skulls, 398\nQuiriqua sculptured tablets, 34\n\nRace-types, 18\nRae, Dr., 144\nRafn, Professor Christian, 40, 46, 47, 51, 52, 61, 78\nRagnvald, Earl, 42\nRainy River, 126\nRaleigh, 74, 77\nRand, Rev. Silas T., 242, 319\nRau, Charles, 118, 119, 180\nRed Lake Indians, 327\nRed River, 328, 330, 334\nReeve of Anderdon, 321\nReeves\u2019 _The Finding of Wineland the Good_, 49, 51, 52, 71\nReid, Dr., 385\nReindeer\u2019s horn, engraving on, 215\nRhode Island, 52, 54, 60, 61, 62, 78\nRiel, Louis, 334\nRink, Dr. Henry, 18, 66, 144\nRites, revolting, 282\nRiverview Cemetery, 118\nRocky Dell Creek, 231\nRolleston, Dr., 353, 361\nRosehill, Lord, 82\nRoyal Society of Canada, 60\nRune-stones, 42\nRunic inscriptions, 42, 131\nRussians in Alaska, 323\n\nSa\u222b\u222batannen, Rev. P. W., 275\nSachem, chief, 177\nSaco, 53\nSaga of Barthar Sn\u00e6fellsass, 70\nSaga of Eric the Red, 71\nSaga of Halfdan Eysteinsson, 70\nSagard, 296\nSt. Brandon, Island of, 37\nSt. Charles river reserves, 306, 316, 318\nSt. John, New Brunswick, 53\nSt. Mansuy, 354\nSt. Molio\u2019s Cave on the Clyde, 30\nSt. Olaf, 44\nSt. Peter Indians, 328\nSt. Regis, 306\nSaline River, 108\nSalmon River, 54, 115\nSan Esteban, convent of, 73\nSankey, Dr., 343\nSaulteux, 328\nSavannahs, 274\nSchaaffhausen, Professor, 354\nSchiller, 375, 376\nSchliemann, Dr., 136\nSchmerling, Dr., 359\nSchumacher, Paul, 112\nScioto-mound skull, 273\nScott, Sir Walter, brain of, 355, 368, 374\nSculptured figures, 23;\n  monuments of Mexico, Central America, and Peru, 39\nSeal hunting, 65\nSea-rovers, literary memorials of, 11\nSelkirk, Lord, 328\nSellers, G. E., 106, 107, 109, 122, 123\nSeminoles, 274\nSenecas, 253, 264, 276, 277, 278, 280, 281, 289, 294, 295, 305, 318\nSeven Islands, the, 37\nShakespeare, brain of, 355\nShaler, Professor, 98, 99\nShawnees, 101, 175, 240, 241, 269, 274\nSheep, mountain, 115\nShell, mounds, British and Danish, 90;\n  workers of the Caribbees, 94;\n  ornaments on, 195\nShips of the Norse rovers, 12\nShort, J. T., 180\nShoshones, 89, 97, 156\nSigurd, King of Norway, 42\nSimpson, Lieut. James K., 230, 231, 232\nSimpson, Sir James Y., 375, 376, 378, 385\nSioux, 120, 175, 178, 312, 325, 326, 327, 329, 333\nSix Nation Indians, 143, 174, 176, 254, 256, 263, 264, 283, 289, 290, 301,\n  305, 314, 316, 318\nSkr\u00e6lings, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 157, 165\nSkulls, Mound-Builders, 105;\n  cave-men, 153;\n  Red Indian, 161;\n  comparison of, 187;\n  capacity, 261;\n  Canadian, 274;\n  Huron, 279;\n  table of cubical capacity, 366\nSmith, Captain John, 269\nSmith, Dr. Southwood, 352\nSnorrason, Thorbrand, 68\nSnorre, 67\nSnovri, 41\nSnow Bird, 243\nSnow-shoes, 224\nS\u0153mmering, Professor, 380\nSolon, 3, 75, 361\nSoto, Dr., 103, 104\nSouthey, quoted, 38\nSpenser, Edmund, quoted, 77\nSpider Islands in Lake Winnipeg, 101\nSpurzheim, Dr., 376\nSquier, E. G., 118, 243, 388, 390, 396\nSquier and Davis\u2019 _Ancient Monuments_, 117, 180\nStadacon\u00e9, 274, 275, 280, 283\nSte-nah, capture of, 315\nStephens\u2019 _Old Northern Runic Monuments_, 42, 56\nStirling, whale at, 199\nStone implements, 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 97, 110, 111, 112, 116, 118,\n  122, 126, 147, 152, 153, 157, 167, 224, 262, 271;\n  manufacture of, 88-92, 122, 124\nStone ornaments, 125, 214\nStorm, Professor Gustav, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53\nStraumey (Stream Isle), 59\nStraumfiordr (Stream Firth), 59, 63, 68\nStuart, Rev. Dr., 290\nSturluson, Snorro, 78\nSun-worshippers, 103\nSurvey, Government, 326, 327\nSusquehannocks, 175, 269\nSwampies, 328, 329\nSwan, James G., 211, 212\nSymbols of the clans, 210\n\nTadmor, 168\nTahiti, traditions of, 14\nTalavera, Prior Fernando de, 73\nTalligew, or Tallegewi, 103, 106, 107, 172\nTaunton River, 61\nTawatins, 138, 204, 207, 208\nTaylor, Dr. Isaac, 30, 358\nTchudi, Von, 391\nThelariolin Zacharee, 224\nTemagamic, Lake, 125\nTemissaming, Lake, 126\nTexas reserve, 296\nThales, a Greek astronomer, 33\nThe Snake Land, 243\nThlinkets, 204, 207, 210\nThomsen of Copenhagen, 81\nThomson\u2019s, Professor Wyville, _Depths of the Sea_, quoted, 5\nThorbrandson, Snorre, 58\nThorfinn, 58, 61\nThorgilsson\u2019s _Iselandinga V\u00f3k_, 71\nThorhall, 59, 60\nThorvald, 58, 61, 62, 63\nThurnam, Dr., 343, 353, 360, 365, 366, 367, 373, 375, 376, 378, 384, 385\nTiedemann, 362, 375, 376, 380, 386, 402\n_Tim\u00e6us_ of Plato, 1, 15, 75\nTimucuas, 173\nTin-mines of Spain and Cornwall, 9, 95\nTinn\u00e9 Indians, 18, 115, 312\nTiontates, 254\nTiontonones, 177\nT\u2019kul, the wind spirit, 212\nTlascalans, 103\nToad, emblematic of an evil spirit, 213\nTobacco in Queen Charlotte Islands, 115\nTobacco-pipes, 120, 167, 168, 178, 190, 195, 207, 219, 271, 272, 273\nToivats and the \u201cKing of the Bears,\u201d 210\nTopinard, Dr. Paul, 261\nToscanelli, Paolo, 72\nToys, ingenious, 223\nTraffic, ancient routes of, 113\nTrenton, gravel beds, 99, 158, 161\nTryggvason, King Olaf, 59\nTshugazzi, 66\nTshimsians, 115\nTshuma Indians, 195\nTubal-cain, art of, 17, 168\nTulare River, rock at, 233\nTuscaroras, 253, 254, 289, 296, 297, 305, 314, 318\nTuteloes, 28, 130, 254, 256, 296\nTylor, Dr. E. B., 61\n\nUchees, 173, 274\nUnamis, 175, 269\nUnitah Mountains, 156\nUsher, Dr., 161\nUvaege, 69\nUxmal sculptured tablets, 34\n\nValdidida, 69\nVancouver Island, Indians of, 324\nVases, native art, 221\nVespucci, Amerigo, 13, 74\nVespuce, Amerike, 75\nVethilldi, 69\nV\u00e9z\u00e8re, valley of, 357, 358\nVigfusson, Gudbrand, 62\nVincent, Rev. J. G., 296\nVinland, or Vineland, 41;\n  origin of name, 46;\n  booths in, 49;\n  coast of, 54, 57, 60, 69\nVirchow, Professor, 373\nVirginia, 74\nVogt, Dr. Carl, 341, 375, 383\n\nWabenos, 224\nWagner, Professor, 343, 364, 373, 375\nWallace, A. R., 192, 349, 350, 351, 398\nWalla-walla, 227\nWar-sling of the Skr\u00e6lings, 67\nWebster, Daniel, 375, 376, 385\nWelcker, Professor, 355, 360, 364, 370, 373, 381\nWelsh Indians, 38\nWeston, T. C., 115\nWhale at San Diego, 127\nWhewell, 376, 385, 386\nWhipple, Lieutenant, 231, 236\nWhite Man\u2019s Land, 38\nWhite Owl, 243\nWhitney, Professor, 16, 149, 255, 257, 288, 289, 298\nWilde, Sir William, 183\nWild goat, carvings of, 217\nWilson, Thomas, 156, 165\nWilts County Asylum, 367\nWinslow, Dr. C. F., 149\nWinthrop, Mr., 320\nWolseley, Sir Garnet, 334\nWright, Professor G. F., 99\nWyandots, 103, 172, 176, 249, 276, 277, 278, 280, 283, 286, 293, 295, 305,\n  318, 321\nWyman, Professor Jeffreys, 149, 344, 362, 375, 389, 390, 396, 399, 400,\n  401\n\nYamasees, 274\nYarmouth, inscribed rock at, 54, 59, 60\nYellowstone Park, 115\n\nZu\u00f1i Indians, 190, 244, 299, 300\n\n                                THE END\n                _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_\n\n\n\n\n                           TRANSCRIBER NOTES\n\nMisspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple\nspellings occur, majority use has been employed.\n\nPunctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors\noccur.\n\nA cover was created for this eBook.\n\n[The end of _The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies_, by\nDaniel Wilson.]","title":"The lost Atlantis, and other ethnographic studies","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":156781}