Aboriginal Race of America. 215 



invariably some shade of yellow or olive, and almost equally 

 distant from the fair tint of the European and the red hue of 

 the Indian. Without attempting a detailed comparison, we 

 may briefly observe that the Mongolian, in his various local- 

 ities, is distinguished for his imitative powers and mechanical 

 ingenuity, and above all for his nautical skill, in which, as we 

 have suggested, he holds a place next to the nations of the 

 Caucasian race. In fine, we are constrained to believe that 

 there is no more resemblance between the Indian and the Mon- 

 gol in respect to arts, architecture, mental features and social 

 usages, than exists between any other two distinct races of 

 mankind. Mr. Ranking has written an elaborate treatise to 

 prove that the Mongols, led by a descendant of Genghis 

 Khan, conquered Peru and Mexico in the thirteenth century ; 

 but in the whole range of English literature there cannot be 

 found a work more replete with distorted facts and illogical 

 reasoning. The author begins by the singular assertion that 

 " when Cuzco was founded by Manco Capac, none of the civ- 

 ilization introduced by the Peruvians and Mexicans was in 

 existence ;" thus overlooking the cultivated tribes who pre- 

 ceded the Inca family, and disregarding also the various demi- 

 civilized nations which successively follow^ed each other in 

 Mexico, before that country fell under the rule of the Aztecs. 

 Mr. Ranking introduces the Mongols in large ships, with all 

 the appliances of war, not even excepting elephants ; and in 

 order that the Tartar general may correspond to Manco Ca- 

 pac, he is made to enter Peru by the Lake Titicaca, upwards 

 of an hundred miles from the sea. Such statements may 

 seem too absurd for sober discussion ; but they are not more 

 so than various other subterfuges which have been resorted to 

 in explanation of the precise manner in which the new world 

 has been peopled from the old. 



But there is not a shadow of evidence that the Mongols 

 ever reached America in ships excepting by mere accident ; 

 and therefore their number must have always been too small, 

 and too badly provided, to have dreamt of conquest in a coun- 

 try which has had a population of millions from immemorial 

 time. 



