258 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



physiognomy are strikingly distinctive and peculiar. He is as definitely marked as 

 any variety of man. The uniform testimony of all competent observers, that the 

 individuals of these widely scattered Indian nations universally display common 

 typical characteristics, possesses great weight. In this respect the Village Indians 

 are not excepted, but especially included. 



Secondly. Unity of Grammatical Structure in their Languages. These stock 

 languages, so far as they have been investigated, reveal the same plan of thought, 

 and numerous coincidences in grammatical structure. The comparison has not 

 been coextensive with their spread ; but it has been carried far enough, probably, 

 to dptect differences if more than one grammatically distinct language existed 

 amongst them. These languages, also, have peculiarities impressed upon all of 

 them alike, which give them a family cast. It is seen in the syllabical structure of 

 their vocables, in the excessive use of the principle of conjugation, in the unusual 

 amount of physical exertion required in their delivery, and possibly in the guttural 

 and nasal utterances with which they are, more or less, roughened. It seems 

 probable, therefore, that the analysis and comparison of these, stock languages will 

 ultimately demonstrate their unity. In these respects, also, the languages of the 

 Village Indians are not exceptional. 



Thirdly. Similarity of Arts, Usages, and Inventions. An argument based upon 

 these considerations, and standing alone, would have but little weight, since similar 

 conditions presuppose similar wants, and beget similar arts, usages, and inventions. 

 And yet this objection, though unwittingly, is a powerful argument in favor of the 

 unity of origin of the entire human family. It is only in virtue of the possession 

 of a common mind, such as belongs to a single species, that these uniform opera- 

 tions are possible. Amongst all of these nations there is a striking uniformity in 

 their manners, usages, and institutions. It is seen in those which relate to social 

 life, to warfare, to marriage, and to the burial of the dead ; but more especially in 

 their simple mechanic arts, such as those of pottery, of weaving, whether with 

 filaments of bark, or with threads of cotton ; of the tanning of skins, and in the 

 forms of their weapons and utensils. This is true, in a more striking sense, of 

 their architecture, which is founded upon the communal principle in living, a 

 principle which prevailed amongst all the Indian nations, from near the confines of 

 the Arctic Sea to the Isthmus of Panama. The communal principle found its way 

 into, and determined the character of this architecture. It is revealed not less 

 distinctly in the long bark house of the Iroquois, designed for twenty families, than 

 in the pueblo houses at Taos, New Mexico, one of which is two hundred and forty 

 feet front, by one hundred feet deep, and five stories high, and capable of accommo- 

 dating eighty families ; or in the pueblo of Palenque, in Chiapa, which was two 

 hundred and twenty-eight feet front, by one hundred and eighty feet deep, and 

 one story high, and was capable of accommodating fifty or more families. 



Fourthly. The Dance. Amongst all of these nations, without an exception, the 

 dance is a domestic institution. Whilst barbarous nations in general indulge in 

 this practice, often to excess, no other people on the face of the earth have 

 raised the dance to such a degree of studied development as the American Indian 

 nations. Each has a large number, ranging from ten to thirty, which have been 



