102 Distinctive Characteristics of the 



sians or Mongolians, Hindoos, Jews or Egyptians. Nor shall 

 I attempt to analyse the views of certain philosophers who 

 imagine that they have found not only a variety of races, but 

 several species of men among the aborigines of this conti- 

 nent. It is chiefly my intention to produce a few of the 

 more strikingly characteristic traits of these people to sustain 

 the position that all the American nations, excepting the Es- 

 kimaux, are of one race, and that this race is peculiar, and 

 distinct from all others. 



1. Physical Characteristics. It is an adage among travel- 

 lers that he who has seen one tribe of Indians, has seen all, 

 so much do the individuals of this race resemble each other, 

 notwithstanding their immense geographical distribution, and 

 those differences of climate which embrace the extremes of 

 heat and cold. The half-clad Fuegian, shrinking from his 

 dreary winter, has the same characteristic lineaments, though 

 in an exaggerated degree, as the Indians of the tropical plains ; 

 and these again resemble the tribes which inhabit the region 

 west of the Rocky Mountains, those of the great valley of the 

 Mississippi, and those again which skirt the Eskimaux on the 

 North. All possess alike the long, lank, black hair, the brown 

 or cinnamon colored skin, the heavy brow, the dull and 

 sleepy eye, the full and compressed lips, and the salient but 

 dilated nose. These traits, moreover, are equally common to 

 the savage and civilized nations ; whether they inhabit the 

 margins of rivers and feed on fish, or rove the forest and sub- 

 sist on the spoils of the chase. 



It cannot be questioned that physical diversities do occur, 

 equally singular and inexplicable, as seen in different shades 

 of color, varying from a fair tint to a complexion almost 

 black ; and this too under circumstances in which climate 

 can have little or no influence. So also in reference to stat- 

 ure, the differences are remarkable in entire tribes which, 

 moreover, are geographically proximate to each other. These 

 facts, however, are mere exceptions to a general rule, and do 

 not alter the peculiar physiognomy of the Indian, which is as 

 undeviatingly characteristic as that of the Negro ; for wheth- 

 er we see him in the athletic Charib or the stunted Chayma, 



