ANALYSIS. between the barbarous and the cultivated tribes, are sufficient to justify the belief in their primitive relationship and common origin. 1. Condition of the earliest of America 11. 'But whether the first inhabitants were rude and inhabitants barbarous tribes, as has been generally supposed, or were unknown more enlightened than even the Mexicans and the Peruvians, is a point which cannot be so satisfactorily deter2 A civiliza mined. But, whichever may have been the case, it is to that of the certain that these nations were not the founders of civilizathe Perution on this continent; for they could point to antiquities which were the remains of a former civilization. tion anterior Mericans and vians. 3. Ancient structures South America. 12. The Incas of Peru, at the time of the conquest, acthroughout knowledged the existence of ancient structures, of more remote origin than the era of the foundation of their empire; and these were undoubtedly the models from which they copied; and throughout an extent of more than three thousand miles, in South America, ancient ruins have been discovered, which cannot be attributed to the Peruvians, and which afford indubitable evidence of the previous existence of a numerous, agricultural, and highly civilized people. Ancient edifices in Mex ico attribu ted to the Toltecs. the Toltecs 13. The Mexicans attributed many ancient edifices in their country to the Toltecs, a people who are supposed to have arrived in Mexico during the latter part of the sixth 5 May not century. It is said that the Toltecs came from the north; have been the and it is highly probable, although but mere conjecture, toarks found that they previously occupied the valley of the MissisStates? sippi and the adjacent country, as far as the Alleghanies on the east, the Lakes on the north, and Florida on the south, and that they were the authors of the works whose remains have been found in the United States. authors of the in the United 6. Another question: tled America? 14. "But still another question arises: when, how, and Who first set by whom was America first settled ?-and who were the ancestors of the present Indian tribes? We shall notice the most prominent of the many theories that have been advanced upon this subject, and close with that which appears to us the most reasonable. Believed by many that 20ere ac 'It is believed by many that the ancients were not unthe ancients acquainted with the American continent; and there are quainted with indeed some plausible reasons for believing that an extenAmerica. sive island, or continent, once existed in the Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and America, but which afterwards disappeared. & A dialogue by Theopom 15. In a dialogue written by Theopompus, a learned Pus. historian who lived in the time of Alexander the Great, one of the speakers gives an account of a continent of very The Car- great dimensions, larger than either Asia or Africa, and navigator. situated beyond these in the ocean. 'It is said that Hanno, thaginian 1. The account given the great Carthaginian navigator, sailed westward, from ANALYSIS. the Straits of Gibraltar, thirty days; and hence it is inferred by many that he must have visited America, or some of its islands. 'Diodorus Siculus says, that “towards Africa, and to the west of it, is an immense island by Diodorus in the broad sea, many days' sail from Lybia. Its soil is very fertile, and its surface variegated with mountains. and valleys. Its coasts are indented with many navigable rivers, and its fields are well cultivated." Siculus. count. 16. Plato's account, however, is the most full, and 2 Plato's ge more to be relied on than that of any other of the ancients. The most important part of it is as follows: "In those early times the Atlantic was a most broad island; and there were extant most powerful kings in it, who, with joint forces, attempted to occupy Asia and Europe. And so a most grievous war was carried on, in which the Athenians, with the common consent of the Greeks, opposed themselves, and they became the conquerors. But that Atlantic island, by a flood and earthquake, was indeed suddenly destroyed; and so that warlike people. were swallowed up." tion of Plato's account. 17. Again he adds, "An island in the mouth of the 3. Continuasea, in the passage to those straits, called the pillars of Hercules, did exist; and that island was larger than Lybia and Asia; from which there was an easy passage over to other islands, and from those islands to that continent, which is situated out of that region." Plato farther remarks that "Neptune settled in this island, and that his descendants reigned there, from father to son, during a space of nine thousand years. They also possessed several other islands; and, passing into Europe and Africa, subdued all Lybia as far as Egypt, and all Europe to Asia Minor. At length the island sunk under water, and for a long time afterwards the sea thereabouts was full of rocks and shoals." tance attach ed by many these acthe various tributed to the counts; and origins at aborigines. 18. These accounts, and many others of a similar 4. The impor character, from ancient writers, have been cited, to prove that America was peopled from some of the eastern continents, through the medium of islands in the Atlantic, which have since disappeared. Various writers have thought that they could perceive in the languages, customs, and religion of the Indians, analogies with those of the Greeks, the Latins, the Hindoos, and the Hebrews; and thus the Indians have been referred, by one, to a Grecian; another, to a Latin; a third, to a Hindoo, and a fourth, to Hebrew origin. Others, with equal show of argument, deduce their origin from the Phoenicians; and thus almost every country of the old world has claimed ANALYSIS. the honor of being the first discoverer of the new, and hence the progenitor of the Indians. 1. The theory of Voltaire Kames. 19. 'Others, again, among whom may be numbered and Lord Voltaire and Lord Kames, finding a difficulty in reconciling the varieties of complexion and feature, found among the human family, with the Scriptural account that all are descended from the same pair, have very summarily disposed of the whole matter, by asserting, that "America has not been peopled from any part of the old world." 2. No necessity for the ed theory. 3. No evidence that dif 20. 'We believe, however, that in order to account for last mention the peopling of America, there is no necessity for resorting to the supposition that a new creation of human beings may have occurred here. And, with regard to the ferent Euro opinion entertained by some, that colonies from different pean colonies European nations, and at different times, have been estabbeen established here, we remark, that, if so, no distinctive traces of them have ever been discovered; and there is a uniformity in the physical appearance of all the American tribes, which forbids the supposition of a mingling of differ have ever lished 4. Navigation among the ancients. 5. Commerce, among the ancients; Carthagi nians, Hin guese, &c. doos, Portu ent races. 21 'There is no improbability that the early Asiatics reached the western shores of America through the islands of the Pacific. There are many historical evidences to show that the ancients were not wholly ig norant of the art of navigation. In the days of Solomon, the navy of Hiram, king of Tyre, brought gold from Ophir; and the navy of Solomon made triennial voyages to Tarshish.* 22. The aromatic productions of the Moluccas were voyages, &c., known at Rome two hundred years before the Christian era; and vessels of large size then visited the ports of the Red Sea.† The British islands were early visited by the Phoenicians; and the Carthaginians are believed to have circumnavigated Africa. The ancient Hindoos had vessels, some of great size, but the commerce of the Indies was principally in the hands of the Arabians and the Malays. When the Portuguese first visited the Indian Archipelago they met with large Malay fleets, some of the vessels of which were large galleys. 6. Adventi tious causes brought the 23. But without attributing to the Asiatics any greater may have maritime knowledge than the rude South Sea islanders Asiatics to were found to possess, yet, by adventitious causes, such as the drifting of canoes, and adventurous voyages, it is highly probable that the people of Asia might, in progress of time, have reached the western shores of the American the American coast. * 1 Kings, ch. 10. Crichton's Hist. Arabia. tion of the continent. 'But the extensive distribution of the Red or ANALYSIS, Mongolian race, throughout nearly all the habitable islands 1. The extenof the Pacific, however distant from each other, or far re- sive distribumoved from the adjoining continents, presents facts which cannot be disputed, and relieves us from the necessity of arguing in support of probabilities. 24. That some of the northern, and rudest of the American tribes, early migrated from Siberia, by Behring's Straits, is not at all improbable. The near approach of the two continents at that point, and the existence of intervening islands, would have rendered the passage by no means difficult. 'But should we even trace all the American tribes to that source, we still ascribe to them an Asiatic origin, and include them in the Mongolian race. the red race es probability of 3. our supposttion. 2 Possible tribes came Behring that some by way of Straits. The theory not affected by this supposition. CONCLUSION. of the early and extensive diffusion of the red race. 1. From the circumstances which have been narrated, 4. Probability it seems reasonable to conclude that the Red race, at an early period, and while in a state of partial civilization, emerging from Oriental Asia, spread over a large portion of the globe; and that through the archipelagos of the Pacific, and, perhaps, also by way of Behring's Straits, they reached the western continent,-leaving in their way, in the numerous islands of the sea, evident marks of their progress; and bringing with them the arts, the customs, the religion, and the languages of the nations from which they sepa rated, traces of which, faint, indeed, through the lapse of ages, it is believed could still be recognized among the Mexicans and the Peruvians at the time of the discovery of those people. 5. The probting points of able radia early American civilization. 2. 'Whatever may have been the origin and history of the more savage tribes of the north, it is believed that the western shores of this continent, and perhaps both Mexico and Peru, equally distant from the equator, and in regions the most favorable for the increase and the support of human life, were the radiating points of early American civilization; from which, as from the hearts of empire, pulsation after pulsation sent forth their streams of life throughout the whole continent. "But the spread of civili- 6 The spread zation appears to have been restricted, as we might reason-ization how ably expect to find it, to those portions of the continent and the eviwhere the rewards of agriculture would support a numer- of. ous population. Hence, following the course of this civilization, by the remains it has left us, we find it limited by the barren regions of Upper Mexico, and the snows of of that civilrestricted, dences therO ANALYSIS. Canada on the north, and the frosts of Patagonia on the south; and while in Mexico and Peru are found its grandest and most numerous monuments, on the outskirts they dwindle away in numbers and in importance. 3. 'Considering the vast extent of these remains, spreading over more than half the continent, and that in Mexico and South America, after the lapse of an unknown series of ages, they still retain much of ancient grandeur which "Time's effacing fingers" have failed to obliterate, it is certainly no wild flight of the imagination to conjecture that in ancient times, even coeval with the spread of science in the east, empires may have flourished here that would vie in power and extent with the Babylonian, the Median, or the Persian; and cities that might have rivalled Nineveh, and Tyre, and Sidon; for of these empires and these cities, the plains of Asia now exhibit fewer, and even less imposing relics, than are found of the former inhabitants of this country. 4. 'It appears, therefore, that on the plains of America, surrounded by all that was lovely and ennobling in nature, the human mind had for ages been left free, in its moral and social elements, to test its capacity for self-improvement. Let the advocates of REASON, in opposition to REVELATION, behold the result. In the twilight of a civilization that had probably sprung from Revelation, but which had lost its warmth while it retained some portion of its brightness, mind had, indeed, risen at times, and, under favoring circumstances, to some degree of power;—as was exhibited in those extensive and enduring structures, which were erected for amusements and pleasure, or worship, or defence; but, at the time of the discovery, the greater portion of the continent was inhabited by savage hordes, who had doubtless relapsed from a former civilization into barbarism. Even in the brightest portions, deep ignorance brooded over the soul; and, on temples dedicated to the sun, human sacrifices were made, to appease the wrath of offended gods, or propitiate their favor. The system of NATURE had been allowed the amplest field for development; its capacities had been fully tried; and its inadequacy to elevate man to his proper rank in the scale of being, had been fully proved. It was time, then, in the wisdom of Providence, for a new order of things to arise; for Reason to be enlightened by Revelation, and for the superstitions of a pagan polytheism to give place to the knowledge of one God, the morality of the Gospel, and the religion of the Redeemer. |