366 Mr. Ranking on the American Tribes. 



Mahomet lived ; the Mongols before any of them had embraced 

 the Koran. The religions in America were those of the Magi, 

 who worship the sun, and fire, as its emblem; Buddism, or 

 that of the lamas, in Tibet ; and Shamanism, such as exists 

 in Siberia ; all confirmatory of the origin of the Indians 5 they 

 are all three magicians, par excellence, and the two first are 

 astrologers *. It is a satisfactory circumstance that Baron Hum- 

 boldt and all the most enlightened authors of Europe, and also 

 of the United States of America, have leaned entirely to the 

 Tartar origin ; and it is presumed that very few exceptions will, 

 with further assistance from the literature of the United States, 

 be found to the possibility of tracing any one of the tribes of the 

 Indians to the emigrants described in this essay. Those tribes 

 who reside at the greatest distance from Europeans will be 

 traced with least difficulty, by their features, religion, totem, 

 and traditions. Thus, if they prove Calmucs, a reference to 

 the best editions of Pallas and La Chappe (which contain so 

 many plates of their gods) will reveal the satisfactory and full 

 proof of what has hitherto puzzled the world. The Caribs are 

 indubitably Mongols and Calmucs, and the Winnebagos are 

 Turks ; these premises will serve as a guide to other tribes, 

 As for the totem, we find that the horse-tail and peacock (the 

 turkey f being probably its substitute in America) are common 

 to both Turks and Moguls ; the wolf is decidedly Turkish ; the 

 tortoise is most likely Mogul. With regard to the arctic in- 

 habitants, there can be little doubt but the Tschouds on one 

 side, and the Laplanders and Samoyeds on the other, have 

 supplied them, and they have remained in climates congenial 

 with their habits. Those inhabitants who were in America at 

 the arrival of the Toltecs are, probably, if at present distinct 

 from the emigrants now mentioned, the most barbarous. In 



* In the thirteenth century there were many Nestorians in the service of the Grand 

 Khans at Caracorum. Every one was free to follow any religion. The mother of 

 the Grand Khan Mango was a Christian, and Mango himself " was a gode christene 

 man and baptised." (Maundevile, p. 276.) It is very remarkable that Mango Capac 

 possessed a cross of crystalline jasper, and kept it in a sacred chamber of his palace, 

 where it hung by a ring of gold or silver, which the Spaniards exchanged for a band 

 of black velvet. The Incas did not adore it, but held it in great veneration, (Gar* 

 cilasso the Jnca, vol.i. p. 119.) 



t It would be interesting to know why this bird was named turkey. The first was 

 brought to England in 1524 : in Johnson's Dictionary it is supposed from Turkey. 

 The first eaten in France was at the nuptial feast of Charles IX. in 1570. The name 

 in Hindostau is Peru : it was probably received first from that country. 



