196 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 



that of the Americans." Mr. Baldwin, in his Ancient America, 

 asserts that " Our wild Indians have more resemblance to the 

 nomadic Koraks and Chookchees found in Eastern Siberia, 

 throuo-hout the region that extends to Behrinoj's Strait, than to 

 any people on this continent. Those who have seen these Sibe- 

 rians, travelled with them, and lived in their tents, have found 

 the resemblance very striking ; but I infer from what they say 

 that the Korak or Chookchee is superior to the Indian." Mr. J. 

 Mackintosh, whose book on " The Discovery of America and the 

 Origin of the Indians," was published at Toronto in 1836, ex- 

 hibited many interesting parallels between the American Indians 

 and the Koriaks, but as he considered the former as one people 

 and united the latter, with the Tungus. his parallels are practi- 

 cally useless. So common is the statement that the languages of 

 the Tchucktchis and Esquimaux are virtually one, that in my 

 article on the affiliation of the Algonquin languages I was misled 

 by the universal consensus into a homologation of it ; but the 

 exploring expeditions undertaken by the United States govern- 

 ment have proved that the statement is unfounded, and that the 

 Tchucktchis of Asia diifer from the Esquimaux physically as 

 well, being taller and thinner, with redder complexions and more 

 prominent features, in every respect a superior body of men. 

 The error arose in confound insr the Aleutans and Kadiaks with 

 the Esquimaux or Innuit, for the identity in language of these 

 peoples with the Tchucktchis is beyond doubt. 



While the Iroquois traditions, according to Dr. Oronhyatekha, 

 assert the autochthonic origin of that people, those of the Daco- 

 tahs and Choctaws, as related by Catlin and others, refer to a 

 migration from the north-west, where they dwelt for a time amid 

 snow and ice. It is evident that the oriirinal home of Dacotahs 

 and Choctaws was that also of the Wyandot-Iroquois, and that 

 the autochthonic theory is of a piece with the same doctrine 

 among the ancient Greeks, a mere form of national vanity. 

 Iroquois, Dacotah and Choctaw grammar agrees in all points, 

 even to the proposed pronouns, with that of the Peninsular lan- 

 guages. The tall muscular form, red complexion and prominent 

 features of the Tchucktchis agree with the physical appearance 

 of the three American families. The encroaching, warlike, in- 

 domitable spirit of the Koriaks, of whom the Tchuktchis are a 

 branch, can find no better parallel than among the three warrior 

 peoples of North America. Some of the Koriak tribes flatten 



