Ch. XX.] ORIGIN OF THE INDIANS. 365 



to tlie south-east ; from both tliese races they were pro- 

 foundly different, though, not in equal degrees. To the 

 Red Indian they have scarcely any affinity, excepting 

 such as had been brought about by the nomads, who 

 came down from the north-west, taking the women of 

 the Nahuatls, whom they conquered, for their wives, and 

 thus bringing about some points of structural resemblance, 

 such as are to be seen in a lesser degree in the citizens 

 of the United States, through whose veins the blood of 

 the half-breeds of the earlier settlements still courses. 

 In Florida, and around the northern side of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, there had probably been a greater fusion of the 

 two races. But in origin the two peoples are distinct ; 

 the one came from north-eastern Asia, the other, I 

 believe, from a tropical country joined on to the present 

 continent, that was submerged at the breaking up of the 

 glacial period. 



"Was that country to the east or the west of the 



i/ 



present continent? Was it Atlantis, or was it a sub- 

 merged country in the Pacific ? I am inclined to the 

 latter opinion, and to believe that the inhabitants of 

 ancient Atlantis were the ancestors of the warlike and 

 adventurous Caribs. The Nahuatls, in their peaceful 

 dispositions and agricultural pursuits, are much more 

 nearly allied to the Polynesians, and their present 

 preponderance on the western coast favours the idea 

 that they had a western origin. 



/ 



The Caribs, who were found in possession of most of 

 the West Indian Islands, and of the eastern coast of 

 South America, were a warlike, fierce, and enterprising 

 race ; and, even in Columbus's time, were found making 

 long voyages to ravage the villages of the peace-loving 



