CONCLUSION. 149 



There are no antiquities in Oregon. 1 On the route from thence, there are no 

 monuments or other works of art, such as the southern nations have left in their 

 ancient seats, until the northern limits of a reflux influence are attained. And it 

 is equally true that there are none of the traits of Chinese, or Japanese, or Tartarian 

 semi-civilization, which emigrants from those nations might be expected to have 

 brought with them. 2 



Affinities which have no united reference to any particular nation, but point now 

 to one people, and then to another totally distinct from the first, and, in a 

 third case, to others equally disconnected, however numerous they may be in 

 the aggregate, tend, by their diversity, to weaken the force of each individual 

 analogy as an evidence of origin, and can only serve to illustrate the possibility 

 of accidental and partial communications. If congruous affinities, of a positive 

 character, should be found in some detached locality, they might seem to 

 indicate descent from a special stock ; but claims to distinctive derivation, founded 

 on such evidence, are opposed by the linguistic and physical proofs of a general 

 unity of race throughout the entire continent. 



If a feature in the customs, institutions, or dialect, of a particular tribe, or of 

 many tribes, has a resemblance to some feature in the customs, institutions, or 

 language, of any well-known historical people (the Jews for example), before receiving 

 it as a proof of connection, or as an inheritance, a reason may be required why 

 other features, more likely to be retained, are wanting ; and even if many such 

 features are adduced, unless a decided national impress accompanies them, adventi- 

 tious causes may afford an explanation, which, if not entirely satisfactory, will 

 often correspond to the real importance of the problem. 3 



Thus, if able philologists have shown the existence of certain general principles 

 or phenomena in the languages of America, which are peculiar and characteristic, 

 uniting them together, and distinguishing them from other languages ; and if able 

 anatomists have become assured of physical traits in the American aborigines which 

 justify their classification as a separate variety of man; exceptions which may be 

 pointed out in either case do not necessarily impair the soundness of their general 

 conclusions. For exceptions may, with plausibility, be attributed to causes that 



1 Letter from George Gibbs, Esq., Indian Agent, to Mr. Schoolcraft. — Hist, and Prosp., &c, Vol. 

 Y. Appendix, p. 662. 



9 Some minor arts, or handicrafts, may be traced, perhaps, to Asiatic sources. A letter from the 

 " Alta Californian," quoted by Dr. Bachman, states that the writer obtained from Queen Charlotte's 

 Island some specimens of native sculpture, which struck him as resembling the sculptures of the Japan- 

 ese ; and on taking them to Japan, they were claimed at once as Japanese articles, without any remark 

 directing attention to them. (Charleston Med. Journal of July, 1855, p. 527.) As Japanese junks 

 have sometimes been cast on the coast of California, articles derived from thence may have been imitated 

 by the natives. 



3 No practice less likely to have a natural origin can be produced than one that has prevailed among 

 some tribes in Brazil and Guiana. At the birth of a child, the husband is put to bed, and nursed with 

 great care for a certain period, while the mother goes about her ordinary concerns. Yet the custom 

 is alluded to as having existed among the ancient Cantabrians, the people of Congo, certain Tartars 

 visited by Marco Paulo, the ancient Corsicans, and in the southern French provinces. — McGidloWs 

 Researches, p. 99. 



