EARLY MAN 1 99 



form of flint implements. These have been found in river 

 beds and banks, in pebble deposits, and in various localities. 

 The young explorer will do well to look in the vicinity 

 of permanent springs in forests, as here natives would 

 camp and live, and here they doubtless would bury certain 

 objects, as stone dishes or mortars, until their return. In 

 this way some interesting implements have been found all 

 over America. The peculiar mounds of the West are sup- 

 posed to represent the burial places of some of the oldest 

 Americans, perhaps the progenitors of the present Indians. 

 Many men have devoted their lives to attempts to trace 

 the origin of the American Indian. Some years ago Pro- 

 fessor A. S. Bickmore showed me a map bearing upon this 

 interesting question. It pictured the North Pacific Ocean, 

 and on it were located the spots where Chinese and Japa- 

 nese vessels have been picked up — crafts that had been 

 blown away from their own shores, and as they stretched 

 completely across the ocean it was evident that the first 

 Americans may have come from Asia in this way, or they 

 may have crossed at Bering Strait, and when a large col- 

 lection of North American Indian pictures is compared 

 to a similar collection of Japanese, Chinese, and Esquimaux, 

 there is found to be a strong resemblance. Not only this, 

 but many of the traditions of the American Indians are 

 similar to those found among the Chinese. 



One illustration may be given. The Indians at San 

 Juan Capistrano, California, at an eclipse of the moon 

 threw stones at it and beat hides, believing that a dragon 

 was devouring it. Avery similar tradition holds in China, 

 and may have been brought over by the sailors of some 

 junk washed on to American shores thousands of years ago. 



