ANCIENT HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA. 425 



name or a uouii, gives it a male character. lu the theogony of the 

 Mayas HtuMun seems to have occupied the same position as Plutus did 

 in Greek and Roman mythology, for both were the dispensers of min- 

 eral riches, especially metal and precious stones. Whether Iltuhtim 

 stood in similar relation to some other kindred deity as FluUts was to 

 Pluto, the writer has not been able to learn, thongli the XQrx design of 

 the present specimen may justily such a supposition. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA. 



COilMrXICATION TO THE AXTHEOrOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF VIENNA, BY DE. M. MUCH. 

 [Translated for the Smithsonian Institution by Professor C. F. Kroeb.] 



The material for the ancient history of America is already so exten- 

 sive, that I must content myself with a general sketch, briefly touching 

 upon the different views on the origin of the aborigines and their ])lace 

 among the races. 



At first it was thought they derived their origin from the Jews, and 

 Englishmen and Americans versed in biblical lore drew largely on the 

 Old Testament for proofs. Soon the Carthagenians and Pha'niciaus 

 took the place of the Jews, to be displaced in their turn by the Egyptians 

 or Macedonians as the progenitors of the Indians. Finally the blood of 

 Celts and Teutons, and even of Greeks and Eomans, was said to flow in 

 their veins. The most iilausible reasons were found for such views, 

 from whicli scarcely a people of any note was excluded. 



The report that Greek inscriptions and remains of Eoman camps 

 had been found in America, you will, of course, immediately reject as 

 a silly hoax. More lately, extensive remains of Norman settlements 

 were said to have been discovered in the United States, and these 

 were immediately employed to make up a case, with the Xorse myths 

 and songs, which unfortunately existed only in the imagination of t]}e 

 discoverer. 



Other American scientists, especially IMorton, advocated an autoch- 

 thonous race of America on the sounder basis of comprehensive anthro- 

 pological studies. But this view is no longer satisfactory, for the im- 

 pulse to the civilization of Mexico, Central America, and Peru, myste- 

 rious as it still is to-day, not only seems to have come from without, but 

 the people themselves seem to have been foreign and not native to the 

 soil. The opinion, advanced a long time ago, that the original inhab- 

 itants of America are of Mongolian extraction, is gaining more and more 

 weight.* 



According to Professor Haeckel's genealogy of the twelve races, the 

 Mongolians separated early into three branches— a southeastern or 

 CoreoJapanese, a southwestern or Indo-Chinese, and a northern or 

 Ural- Altaians. These again sent out branches westward, where they 

 ijeparated into Tungusians, Samoyedes, Kalmucks, Tartars, Turks, 



' I find tbis view still further supported in the interesting lecture of Professor Fr. 

 Muller on the inhabitants of Alaska, in which be points to the similarity of religions 

 views in the northeastern tribes of Asia and the Indians of Alaska. 



