74 (Beoatapbtcal Wotes on 



of their eyes, are features common to the Mexican Indians and the 

 Japanese. When I first came to Washington, at the end of 1859, not 

 having been out of Mexico before, I retained very vivid recollections 

 of the Mexican Indians, with whom I had been somewhat closely asso- 

 ciated ; and shortly afterwards the first Japanese Embassy came to this 

 country and was received in a very solemn manner by Mr. Buchanan, 

 then President of the United States. The Embassy consisted of about 

 forty persons altogether, comprising ministers, secretaries, interpret- 

 ers, servants, etc., and were dressed in their national gala costumes, 

 not having yet adopted the European one. The Diplomatic Corps 

 having been invited to the reception, I attended as a member of the 

 same, and was greatly struck by the remarkable similarity which I found 

 between the Japanese members of the Embassy and the Mexican In- 

 dians, whom I had just left. It seemed to me that had I collected at 

 random forty Mexican Indians and dressed them in the same gorgeous 

 costumes that the Japanese wore, nobody could have detected the 

 difference. 



Some of the Indian languages seem to me to resemble strongly the 

 Oriental ones, though of course I cannot speak with authority, as I do 

 not know any of those languages and have heard only the Chinese, 

 Japanese, and Korean spoken ; but I am sure that if any educated and 

 intelligent Chinese should go to Mexico and spend some time among 

 the Indians, he would find traces in the language which would con- 

 tribute greatly to clear up this problem. Mr. Tateno, a former Japanese 

 Minister, who visited Mexico, found, during his short stay in that coun- 

 try, several words that are used in Japan and that have the same mean- 

 ing in both countries. I am aware that Senor Pimentel, a very learned 

 philologist, who made a special study of the languages of the Mexican 

 Indians, finds no similarity at all between them and the Chinese or 

 other Oriental languages ; and that even the Otomi language, which is 

 monosyllabic, he finds to have no similarity to the Chinese. But, 

 notwithstanding that great authority, I believe that the aborigines of 

 both continents, that is, Asiatic and American, were originally of the 

 same race, and that there must be some relationship between their 

 respective languages. 



The Indians of the different tribes do not generally mix with one 

 another, but intermarry among themselves, and this fact contributes 

 largely to their physical decay, and makes very difficult, at least for 

 some time to come, the complete assimilation of all the Mexican popu- 

 lation. 



The Mexican Indians are on the whole a hard-working, sober, 

 moral, and enduring race, and when educated they produce very dis- 

 tinguished men. Some of our most prominent public men in Mexico, 

 like Juarez as a statesman, and Morelos as a soldier, were pure-blooded 



