B'68 Sii* ll. Schotoburgk oh the Natives ofGmand. 



hordes rendered their destruction inevitable, if they obsti^ 

 nately persisted in remaining ; they, therefore, abandoned 

 the country to the conquerors, emigrated southward, and be- 

 came ultimately extinct. The descendants of the latter savage 

 tribes, the conquerors of the ancient Mexicans, constitute at 

 present the aboriginal inhabitants of North and South Ame- 

 Hca ; tribes, whose language, though dissimilar^ possess phi- 

 lological affinities^ and who are distinguished by the same 

 predilections for a nomadic or roving and savage life, and are 

 given alike to war and to the chase. 



The Mongolian races of Northern Asia possess a similar 

 disposition ; but we may infer a still stronger affinity between 

 the Indians of North America and the nomadic tribes of 

 Northern Asia, from anatomical coincidences. Indeed, Dr 

 Prichard, in alluding to the Mongolian races and the North 

 American Indians, observeSj " we do not find that any clearly 

 defined difference has been generally proved between the two 

 classes of nations.'* 



The present American race, if we do not enter into spe- 

 cialties, blended with the Mongolian to the north, spreads 

 over the greater part of the New World ; and, however feeble 

 their intellect may be, they surpass the more civilized, but 

 now extinct, races of Mexico, in their full belief of the exist- 

 ence of one Good Spirit and a future state. 



The religious belief of a nation ought to be kept strictly 

 in view in tracing affinities and relationship. The absence 

 of all idolatry among the aborigines has struck the inquirer 

 as very remarkable. 



The numerous instances of strong resemblance in manners 

 and customs of the Samoiedes and Yakutes in Erman's Reise, 

 struck me as very remarkable ; and I have no doubt that 

 further investigation will lead to remarkable results as to 

 the origin of the Guiana Indians. 



The Samoiedes believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, 

 the creator and preserver of all things ; but they offer him no 

 worship^ because they suppose that he takes no notice of them, 

 and requires nothing of them. To another being, inferior to 

 the Supreme, but yet very powerful, eternal and invisible, but 

 inclined to evil, they ascribe all misfortunes. 



