158 The Orif/l/i (oi'l LUfory of the Ihnl I?cice. 



scsslng' porliaps tlio liiglicst degree of probability, is Uiat wliicli maintains 

 its origin from Asia, throiigli the Indian Arcliipclago. 



The most remarkable peculiaritj'in the institutions of nil these nations, 

 is their religious eharacter. Laws, government, the arts and scienees, and 

 the whole routine of private and public affairs, were under the direction 

 of the priesthood. Thence several consequences flowed, — the preserva- 

 tion from a rapid decline into barbarism, so long as religion retained its 

 supremacy, — the utter absence of progression and improvement, — and 

 the stereotype character of the whole system of societj'. The sciences 

 were occult ; long religious probations were necessary before their prin- 

 ciples were taught, and thus no generation possessed an advantage over 

 the preceding one. Knowledge and civilization were not animate and 

 instinct with natural warmth and vigour, but were embalmed, and like a 

 shrivelled mummy, presented the mere outward form with none of the 

 vitality of existence. From this continued religious subjection originated 

 also that unchangeablencss, that fixed and immutable character, which 

 distinguished all these nations, and which is a marked and prominent 

 trait of the savage Indian. An inflexlbilitj' which adheres tenaciously to 

 old forms and customs, and despises change ; which may be overpowered, 

 but never yields ; and which, in view of the dreary Impending fate of the 

 aboriolnes, possess an air of melancholy grandeur ; for, as one of those 

 comino' events which " cast their shadows before," the absolute extinc- 

 tion of this ancient race seems to be rapidly and irresistibly approach- 

 ino-. Upon this continent, the pure types of the new and the old era of 

 civilization have met and encountered each other. The family presenting 

 the one, having occupied this vast region for countless ages undisturbed 

 by the approach of other and modern races, had been allowed the amplest 

 scope for development, and yet, at the discover}', the greater portion of 

 the continent was inhabited by savage hordes ; within the United States, 

 the barbarous tribes appear to have been greatly depopulated, and the 

 ancient cultivated nations to have become extinct ; even in Mexico and 

 Peru, the civilization of the first ages seems to have surpassed that of 

 later times, and society generally was in a state of decadence. The old 

 gysteni, — its moral and social elements, — its capacity for self-improve- 

 ment, — had thus been fairly tried and tested ; and the time had arrived 

 when a new race, and the Christian religion, were appointed to take 

 possession of the soil. — (From an Interesting work lately published On the 

 Origin and History of the Red Race, by Alexander W. Bradford.) 



