410 Bibliography. 



known to their predecessors. And as the appearance of the Incas in 

 Peru was nearly simultaneous with the dispersion of the Toltecas in the 

 year 1050 of our era, there is reasonable ground for the conjecture that 

 the Mexicans and Peruvians were branches of the same Toltecan stock." 

 The strange diversity among the intellectual attainments of the various 

 branches of this family, have led philosophers to account for it by sup- 

 posing a plurality of races. But he inquires, whether we do not ob- 

 serve equally striking contrasts in the wild Arab of the desert, and the 

 Saracen amid the luxury and refinement of Spain. 



Dr. Morton dwells upon the general deficiency in maritime enterprise 

 that marks all the American nations. They seem never to have ad- 

 vanced beyond the rudest style of canoe, and he quotes from De Azara 

 a curious fact in illustration of this subject. On the discovery of the 

 Rio de la Plata, its shores were found inhabited by two different na- 

 tions, who from their inability to cross the river, had never in any 

 way communicated. The manner of interment, which with few excep- 

 tions is universal among these tribes, is so different from that practiced 

 by any of the inhabitants of the old world, as to identify them as a 

 peculiar and simple race. The body is placed in a sitting position, 

 with the knees drawn up against the chest, the arms bent, and the chin 

 supported by the palms of the hands. The remains in the sepulchres 

 around Lake Titicaca abundantly prove that this custom has existed 

 from ancient times. Dr. Morton next inquires if these leading charac- 

 teristics do not prove the race aboriginal to America. The Eskimaux 



have long been admitted to belong to the Mongolian family, but no si 

 ilarity can be found to justify the idea that they are the connecting link 

 between the polar inhabitants of Asia and the American tribes. Their 

 physical, moral and intellectual characteristics are quite distinct. The 

 common theory that this continent was peopled by immigration from 

 Asia, is not only controverted by the total dissimilarity in appearance 

 of the races, but it requires us to suppose " one continued chain of col- 

 onies during a long succession of ages" making their way over a tract 

 of eight hundred miles, and among a great variety of languages; and, 

 inquires Dr. Morton, " how does it happen that during the lapse of three 

 hundred years, since the discovery of America, there has not been an 

 authenticated immigration from Asia?" 



Many of the same objections are urged against the theory of a Ma- 

 lay origin ; and the comparison of languages only heightens the diffi- 

 culties. " Once more," says our author, " I repeat my conviction that 

 the study of physical conformation alone excludes every branch of the 

 Caucasian race, from any obvious participation in the peopling of this 

 continent. In fine, our own conclusion long ago derived from a patient 

 examination of the facts thus briefly and inadequately stated, is, that 



