11 



tho radical features of the American Indian are present in the 

 Telugu and Tamilian system of relationship. 



Can these coincidences be accidental ? While this is not the 

 proper place to discuss, either the extent or the conclusiveness of 

 the evidence here afforded of the Asiatic origin of the American 

 Indian race, yet it is not too much to say, that the remarkable 

 similarity of their systems of consanguinity in so many special 

 features, furnishes no slight indication that further research will 

 draw forth such additional evidence as may lead to a final solution 

 of this problem. 



Should this fact become thus established, we cannot fail to per- 

 ceive the important bearing which a comparison of the several 

 systems of consanguinity and relationship of the human race will 

 have upon the remaining question of their common origin. Lan- 

 guage, which has been the great instrument in this inquiry, 

 changes its vocabulary not only, but also modifies its grammatical 

 structure in the progress of ages, thus losing the certainty of its 

 indications, with each new foot-hold gained in the past. But the 

 ideas deposited in a system of consanguinity, and standing to each 

 other in such fixed relations as to create a system, are mostly in- 

 dependent of all changes in language, and of the lapse of time, 

 and depend for their vitality in the human mind, upon their prime 

 necessity and approved usefulness. The system of the Indo- 

 European nations has stood without essential change for upwards 

 of thirty centuries in the lexicons of the Latin, Greek, and San- 

 scrit languages. That of the Tamil and Telugu races has an an- 

 tiquity equally great, having survived the Brahminical conquest, 

 the substitution of a new religion, and the imposition upon them 

 of the law of Caste ; while that of the American Indians bears 

 internal evidence of the same great age and permanency. 



Sufficient has been said to show, at least, that the further pros- 

 ecution of this inquiry, in which your cooperation is respectfully 

 solicited, promises results of some importance. Can you be per- 

 suaded to furnish to the undersigned the system of relationship, 

 written out upon the enclosed schedule, of the native race among 

 or near whom you reside ? It is certainly a request unsupported 

 by any of the ordinary motives of interest, but it is not therefore 

 proffered without a hopeful expectation of a favorable response. 



