Review of Revieu-s, 1/11/ 13. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



899 



as an experiment and a successful en- 

 couragement. The method spread far 

 and wide. The Kazan Seminary for the 

 preparation of schoolmasters for all the 

 tribes of the east of Russia was estab- 

 lished according to the same principles. 

 Its first director till his death was Tlmin- 

 sky. 



The movoment spread out from Kazan 

 along the Volga, passed the I'ral, and found 

 followers all over Siberia. It would l)e diffi- 

 cult in this sketch to enumerate tlie services 

 rendered, the battles won, the thousands of 

 schools established, and thousands of books 

 edited in the languages of different tribes up 

 to now. During the life of Ilminsky it was 

 his loving and devoted hand which ruled the 

 whole affair : it was he who served as a con- 

 necting link between workers of different 

 blood, social and geographical position. In- 

 visible threads were drawn from the re- 

 motest village to his working-room : he up- 

 held incessant correspondence with thousands 



of his direct i)upils and of his pupils' pupils 

 with an untiring zeal and utmost delicacy. 



Through the modest office of Ilminsky 

 passed thousands of visitors from the 

 remotest corners of Cheremiss and Chu- 

 cash Woods ; of the Kirghise and Bash- 

 kir Steppes ; from Altai ; and the Trans- 

 baikalian ; simple men, too, in sheepskin 

 and shoes of soaked last, who were drawn 

 to the mild old man in their search for 

 light and instruction. It often happened 

 that they spent whole nights sleeping on 

 the floor of his cabinet, having no other 

 accommodation than the room of their 

 worshipped apostle. 



And in many a humble priest's or school- 

 master's house one may find a lithograph re- 

 presenting the beautiful features of the 

 grand old man, an emblem of his soul and 

 name, being a bond between millions of 

 his followers, as his heart and mind were a 

 connecting link of the cause during his life. 



WHERE DO THE INDIANS COME FROM? 



The results of a great deal of histori- 

 cal investigation, as well as some more 

 or less unfounded speculation, have ap- 

 peared in print recently regarding the 

 presumed Old World origin of the 

 American Indian. The Red Man of the 

 American continents has been forcibly 

 related to the Welsh, the Egyptians, the 

 Phoenicians and the lost ten tribes of 

 Israel. A writer in the monthly maga- 

 zine, Red Man, " printed by the Indians 

 of manv tribes," at the United States 

 Indian School at Carlisle, Pa., has col- 

 lected all the historical data on the sub- 

 ject and given it in an article in a recent 

 number of the American Review of Re- 

 views. 



A scientific study of the Indian sug- 

 gests, says this writer (Franz Boaz), that 

 tlie American race " must have been sepa- 

 rated from the rest of the Old World 

 for a very long period, and that then- 

 civilisation has grown up in the Western 

 hemisphere." There is no evidence as 

 to the geological time in which this sepa- 

 ration occurred, although "it seems 

 fairly certain that the American race is 

 closely related to the races of North- 

 eastern Asia, and that it must have lived 

 in Asia for a very long time." It seems 

 quite certain that the American Indian 

 "reached America at least at the lime 



when, after the retreat of the glaciers 

 connection with Asia was first re-estab- 

 lished. This must have been many thou- 

 sand years ago." 



" It is not necessary to assume," con- 

 tinues this writer, " that all Americans 

 arrived on the continent at the same 

 time. 



In all probability there was a slow filtering 

 through of people from the west ; that is to 

 say, from Asia, ea.stward. It seems also very 

 plausible that the movements of people were 

 not in one direction onl.v, but that a re- 

 peopling of Siberia by American tribes oc- 

 curred in the course of these events. 



Tiie people who came to our shores were 

 in all i)i'obabilit.v hunters and fishermen, who 

 had the art of using fire, and who may have 

 been accompanied l)y the domesticated dog. 

 The art of domesticating other animals and 

 the cultivation of i)lants, as well as the ust^ 

 of potter.v, were, in all probability, un- 

 known. 



As to the belief that the arts of the 

 .\merican Indian are related to those of 

 the Old World, a belief based largely 

 on the supposed similarity between Old 

 World arts and those the Spaniards 

 found in Mexico, Central America, and 

 Peru, Mr. Boaz says : — 



It is ea.sy to show that the similarities 

 were simplv those similarities which are com- 

 mon to all forms of social life that develop 

 in more densely inhabited areas, while the 

 differences between the two arc fundamental. 



