APPENDIX.

CHAPTER I.

THE ABORIGINES OF AMERICA.-Early notions respecting the Americans.Speculations concerning their origin.-Intercourse of the inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of Asia with America.-Similarity of the customs of the Indians with those of many tribes in the old world.-General physiognomy of the North American Indians.-Their mental and intellectual qualities.-State of government and general knowledge among them.-Description of particular tribes.-The Eskimaux.-Indians of the United States, their number and dis tribution.-Manners, mode of life and religious notions of the Indians.-The Mandans.-The Sioux.-The Camanchees.-The Caribs.-The Californians.American languages.-Antiquities of the North American Indians.

THE early narratives of the discoveries in the western continent contain the most marvellous tales respecting the inhabitants. America, according to many of these accounts, was peopled with pigmies, giants, and men with heads beneath their shoulders. A tribe of negroes was believed to exist in the south, while the northern regions were supposed to contain inhabitants perfectly white. Nothing, however, is more striking than the uniform appearance of the aboriginal population.

The problem of the origin of the American Indians, has employed the researches and speculations of ingenious men, ever since the discovery of the continent. Many fanciful theories

have been invented to explain the manner in which America was peopled; but the most reasonable supposition seems to be that the western continent received its first population from Asia. The map of the globe will show us that immediately within the arctic circle, the eastern extremity of the old continent is separated from America by a strait less than forty miles in width, and this strait is solidly frozen during winter. Kamtschatka, the extremity of Asia, situated between the fortieth and fiftieth degrees of north latitude, is peopled by natives who are thoroughly accustomed to endure all the rigors of this climate, and is provided with many animals equally capable of existing through all its inclemencies. Under such circumstances, we can see no difficulty in concluding that, from the eastern extremity of Asia, both men and animals have passed to America, and subsequently been multiplied over the whole continent. In respect to human beings, it is not necessary to insist that they passed to the American shore during winter, since the distance is not too great for us to believe, that even the rudest navigators, when driven by stress of weather from their own coast, as often happens to the Eskimaux,

could, with little difficulty, have reached this continent. The Aleutian islands, which are very numerous, and form almost a continuous, chain, beginning with Behring's Island, and extending from a point opposite to Kamtschatka, in about the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, may have afforded a much easier and more certain approach. These islands are in the same parallel of latitude with the greater part of Hudson's Bay and Labrador, where even Europeans are able to endure the climate during the severest

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seasons. There is, in fact, positive proof, that the reindeer cross over in vast herds on the ice, subsisting on the moss found on these islands during their passage.

An objection has been made to this hypothesis, grounded on the fact of the striking difference between the Eskimaux and the common Indian, seeming to prove that they were derived from different races. But the Eskimaux bear a manifest resemblance to the Kamtschadale, Tunguse, and other natives of the northeast of Asia, notwithstanding that they differ in many respects from other inhabitants of the new world; there can, therefore, be no reasonable doubt that they are descended from the same parent stock. The copper-colored natives of America, who are the most numerous of the aborigines, approach more closely to the Asiatic Tartars in color and stature. Our belief of the Asiatic origin of the Americans is strengthened by the similarity which many of their customs bear to those of many wild tribes of the ancient continent. The practice of scalping was common among the Scythians. Herodotus informs us that they carried about with them at all times this savage mark of triumph. The ferocity of the Scythians to their prisoners, extended to the remotest part of Asia. The natives of Kamtschatka, at the time of its discovery by the Russians, put their prisoners to death with the most lingering tortures. The Scythians were believed by the neighboring nations, annually to transform themselves into wild beasts, and again to resume the human shape. The true account of this metamorphosis may be found in a practice very common among the American Indians. They disguise themselves in dresses

made of the skins of beasts, and wear the heads fitted to their own; these habits they use in hunting, to deceive their game. Ignorance and superstition, among barbarous people, would natu

rally ascribe to a supernatural metamorphosis these temporary expedients to outwit the brute creation.

The Indians of North America are marked by considerable differences in stature, color and physiognomy. Their average height corresponds with that of Europeans, though many individuals may be found, in various tribes, far exceeding the ordinary height. Their color varies, from a cinnamon-brown to a deep copper-color; and some have been found of an olive-yellow tinge. They almost universally have black, straight and stiff hair,

though it frequently appears coarser from their mode of dressing it, than it would in its natural state. The features of the face are all large and strongly marked, except the eyes, which are generally deep-seated, or sunk in large sockets, and placed nearly in a horizontal line. In this respect, and in general beauty of person, they more nearly resemble the European than any other variety of the human race. The forehead is commonly rather low, somewhat compressed at the sides, and slightly retreating from the perpendicular. The facial angle is about eighty degrees. The nose is generally prominent, and sometimes arched. The cheekbones are high and widely separated; the angle of the jaw is

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broad, and the chin square. These latter marks give a peculiar fulness to the lower part of the face, and occasion much of the remarkable expression of the Indian countenance. They were formerly supposed to be destitute of a beard, but this is erroneous; they eradicate the hair from the face with the greatest care. The hair of the head is also, in a great part, removed; a small lock being usually left on the centre or crown, which is commonly decorated with feathers, porcupine quills and other ornaments.

It is almost a universal habit with them to paint their bodies, either on occasions of ceremony, or preparatory to battle; hence, vermilion has always been a substance of great value to them. Under ordinary circumstances, where this substance is not to be obtained, they employ various colored clays, charcoal, &c., which are smeared over the skin in fantastic figures.

In his native wilds, free from the debilitating vices and corruptions of civilization, the North American Indian is brave, hospitable, honest and confiding; for him danger has no terrors, and his house is ever open to the stranger. Taught to regard glory as the highest reward of his actions, he becomes a stoic under suffering, and so far subjugates his feelings as to stifle the emotions of his soul, allowing no outward sign of their workings to be perceived. His friendships are steadfast, and his promises sacredly kept; his anger is dreadful; his revenge, though often long cherished in secret, is as horrible and effective as it is certain. Necessity and pride teach him patience; habitual exercise makes him vigilant and skilful. His youth is principally spent in listening to the recital of his ancestors' deeds of renown, and his manhood is passed in endeavoring to leave for his children an inducement to follow his example. In common circumstances, the Indian is grave, dignified and taciturn; but in the assembly of his nation, or in a council with the whites, he frequently becomes fluent, impassioned, eloquent and sublime. With few words and