The Orijin and History of the lied Face. 157 



of their navigation, in remote ages, of the Asiatic seas the f^xcts stated 

 in relation to the peopling of islands by the aeeidental drifting of eanoes, 

 and more than all, the aetual proof of tho distribution of population 

 over the numerous and distant islands of the great Paafic, rom As.a to 

 Easter Island, render it unnecessary to resort to the violent hypothesis of 

 a northern route. What greater obstacles .vere there, to impede a pas- 

 sage from Easter Island to the American coast, than attended a migra- 

 tion to Easter Island ? Indeed, this island itself appears to have been 

 successively occupied by different families ; and its pyramidica edifices, 

 and its colossal obelisks and statues, are closely analogous to the Amen- 

 can monuments. . 



When and by whom was America peopled ? Ih.s interesting ques- 

 tion, if it shall ever be solved, of course can be answered only in a gene- 

 ral manner. The character of American civilization is not wholly iiidi- 

 genous. Its mutual diversities are no more than might naturally arise 

 when nations of the same stock are separated; its uniformities are great 

 and striking, and exhibit, in common, an astonishing resemblance to 

 many of the features of the most ancient types of civilization in the 

 Eastern hemisphere. The monuments of these nations were temples and 

 palaces ; their temples were pyramids ; their traditions were nlter^^-x,ven 

 with cosmogonical fables, which still retained relics of primitive history; 

 and their religion was sublime and just in many of Its ovigmal docti.nes, 

 thoucrh debased in their superstitious abuse and corruption. In all this 

 there is nothing modern.-nothing recent ; these features are not strictly 

 Hindoo, Egyptian, or Chinese, though they approximate the abongmal 

 civilization to that of each of these nations. The origin of this resem- 

 blance is to be traced back to the earliest ages, when these great nations 

 first separated, and carried into Egypt, Hindoostan, China, and America, 

 the same religion, arts, customs, and institutions, to be variously modi- 

 fied under the influence of diverse causes. The great diversity of Ame- 

 rican languages, the few analogies they present to those of the Old 

 World; the absence of the use of iron; certain peculiarities m their 

 astronomical systems; and some of their own traditions which have 

 preserved the memory of the great events of ancient sacred history, and 

 attribute the colonization of the continent to one of those tribes who 

 ^vere present at the dispersion of mankind, all tend to support this po- 

 sition The Red race, then, appears to be a primilive branch of the hu- 

 man family, to have existed in many portions of the globe, distinguished 

 for early civilization ; and to have penetrated at a very ancient period 

 into America. The American family does not appear to be derived from 

 ^ny nation now e^cisting; but it is assimilated by numerous analogies to 

 the Etrurians, Egyptians, Mongols, Chinese, and Hindoos; it rs most 

 c/ose/t/ related to the Malays and Polynesians ; and the conjecture pos- 



