526 



Collections froM American Literature, 



[Jan. I, 



and Irnqnois prostrated Ihe jiopiilous 

 settlements on both bunks of the 

 Oliio. 



The surviving^ race irt these terrible 

 eontlicts between tlie different nations 

 of the ancient native residents of North 

 America, is evidently tliat of tlio Tar- 

 tars. Tiiis opinion is founded upon four 

 considerations. 



1. Tlie similarity of physiognomy and 

 features. His excelleney iNI. Genet, 

 iateniinister-plenipotentiaiy from France 

 1o the United States, is well acquainted 

 with the faces, hues, and figures of our 

 Indians and of the Asiatic Tartars; and 

 is perfectly satisfied of their mutual re- 

 semblance. Mons. Cazcaux, consul of 

 France to New- York, has drawn the 

 same conclusion from a careful exami- 

 nation of the native man of North 

 America and Northern Asia. 



Mr. Smibcrt, who had been employed, 

 as .losiah Meigs, esq. now commissioner 

 of the land office of the United States, re- 

 lates, in executing paintings of Tartar 

 visages, for the grand duke of Tuscany, 

 •was so struck with the similarity of their 

 features to those of the Naraganset In- 

 dians, that he pronounces them members 

 of the same great family of mankind. 

 The anecdote is preserved, with all its 

 circumstances, in the fourteenth volume 

 of the Medical Repository. 



Within a few months I examined over 

 and again seven or eight Chinese sai- 

 lors, who had assisted in navigating a 

 ship from Macao to New-York. The 

 thinness of their beards, the bay com- 

 plexion, the black lank hair, the aspect 

 of the eyes, the contour of the face, and 

 in short the general external character, 

 imhiced every person who observed 

 Ihem, to remark how nearly they re- 

 sembled the Mohegans and Oneidas of 

 New- York. 



Sidi Mellimelli, the Tunisian envoy to 

 IJie United States in 1804, entertained 

 the same opinion, on beholding the 

 Cherokees, Osages, and Miamies, as- 

 sembled at the city of Washington du- 

 ring his residence there. Their Tartar 

 pbysiognomy struck him in a moment. 



2. The affinity of their languages : — 

 The late learned and enterprising Pro- 

 fessor Barton took tlK lead in this cu- 

 rious enquiry. He collected as many 

 ■words as he could from the languages 

 spoken in Asia and America; aud he 

 concluded, from the numerous coinci- 

 dences of sound and signification, that 

 there must have been aconnnon origin. 



3. The existence of corresponding 

 «wstops:— I oiean at present to state 



that of shaving away the hair of th« 

 scalp, from the fore-part and sides of thp 

 head, so that nothing is left but a tuft or 

 lock on the crown. 



The custom of smoking the pipe, on 

 solemn occasions, to the four cardinal 

 points of the compass, to the heavens 

 and to the earth, is reported, upcRi tlie 

 most credible authority, to distinguish 

 equally the hordes of the Asiatic Tartars 

 and the bands of the American Siaux.. 



4. The kindred nature of the Indian 

 dogs of America and the Siberian dogf 

 of Asia: — The animal that lives with th» 

 natives of the two continents, as a dog, i» 

 very different fro)n the tame and familiar 

 creatine of the same name in Europe, 

 He is either a different species, or 4 

 wide variety of the same species. But 

 the identity of the American and Asiatic 

 curs is evinced by several considerations 

 Both are mostly white. They liavc 

 shaggy coats, sharp noses, and erect ears. 

 They are voracious, thievish, and to a 

 considerable degree indomitable. They 

 steal whenever they can, and sometimes 

 turn against their masters. They arc 

 prone to snarl and grin, and they have ^ 

 howl instead of barking. They are em- 

 ployed in both hemispheres for labour; 

 such as carrying burthens, drawing sleds 

 over the snow, and the like; being 

 yoked and harnessed for the purpose, 

 like horses. 



Tliis coincidence of our Indian dog 

 with the Canis Sibericus is a very im- 

 portant fact. The dog, — the companion, 

 the friend, or the slave, of man in all his 

 fortunes and migrations, thus reflects 

 great light upon the history of nations 

 and of their genealogy. 



II. The exterminated race in the 

 savage encounters between the nations 

 of North America in ancient days ap- 

 pears clearly to have been that of the 

 Mala.> s. 



The bodies and shrouds and clothing 

 of these individuals have within a few 

 years been discovered in the caverns of 

 saltpetre and copperas within the slates 

 of Kentucky and Tennesce ; their entire 

 and exsiccated condition has lead intel- 

 ligent gentlemen who have seen them to 

 call them mummies. They are some of 

 the most memorable of the antiquities 

 that North America contains. The race 

 or nation to wljich they belonged is ex- 

 tinct; but in preceding ages occupied 

 the region situated betvveen lakes On- 

 tario and Erie on the north, and the Gulf 

 of Mexico on the south, and bounded 

 eastwardly by the Alleghany mountauis, 

 and westwardly by tlie Mississippi river. 



That 



