908 



REPORT — 1884. 



Bfones ftmoii}? fhn Iroqiioin niid otluT tribfs. Now, if tlie prolmMIity Iw ((rantitl 

 (hat these various Amt'riciin notions cami- from A.sia, tlii'ir iiniiortatiun woulil nm 

 have to do with any remotely ancient connection between tlie two continents. Tin- 

 Hindu eleraent-cata.stroplies, the Kast Asiatic zodiac-calendars, the piuieof baik- 

 ffammon, seem none of tliem extremely old, and it may not he a tliousand year- 

 t.ince they readied America. Tliese are cases in which we may reasonably suitpoM- 

 communication by seafarers, ]H'rhaj)s even in some of tliose juiiKs whicli are biou::lit 

 across so often In' the ocean-current and wrecked on tlie ('aiifurnian coast. In 

 connection witli ideas borrowed from Asia there arises tlie iiiiefttion, How did tli'- 

 Mexicans and Peruvians become ]ios.se8sed of bronze r* Seeing,' liow iiiiperfectlv it 

 had established itself, not even disnos.'^essinfif the stone implements, I have \li\v^r 

 believed it to lie an .\siatic importation of no (jrreat antinuily, and it is witli <.'rea! 

 satisfaction that I find such an authority on prehistoric arclia'olo;.'y as I'liilt'ssor 

 Worsaae comparing- the bronze implements in Thina and Japan with those nf Mexico 

 and Peru, and declaring' emidiatically his opinion that bronze was a modern iiovehv 

 introduced into America. While these items of Asiatic culture in .\iiierini are .-o 

 localised aa to ajjrree best with the hypothesis of communication far soiitii across 

 the Pacilic, tiiere are others whicli a^'i'ee best with the routes fur north. .\ renuirl;- 

 able piece of evidence pointed out l)y (teneral Pitt-Rivers is tiie^'eo^rniphical distri- 

 bution of the Tatar or compo>ite bow, which in cmstructioii is unlike thelony-bow, 

 )mn'/ made of several pieces spliced to;,'-ether. and which is bent backwiirds to 

 .string it. This distinctly Asiatic form may bo followed across the region of 

 llehring's Straits into America anioiig the Ks(juiinaux and northern Indians, so tlmt 

 it can hardly be doubted that its coming into America wius by a nortliern line n| 

 migration. This important movement in culture may Iiave taken place in remotelv 

 ancient times. 



A brief account may now be given of the present state of information as ti 

 movements of civilisatic vithin the double continent of .Vmerica. Conspicuous 

 among these is what nin called the iiortiiwai-d drift of civili-^at ion, which conns 

 well into view in the ev. jco of botanists as to cultivated plants. .Maize, tlinugl 

 allied to, and probably ^.enetically connected witli an Old NN'orld graminaceoii- 

 I'amily, is distinctly American, ami i.s believed by De t'aiidolle to have been brougli 

 into cultivation in Peru, whence it was curried from tribe to tribe up into tli 

 North. To see how closely tlie two continents are connecteil in civilisation, on ■ 

 need only look at the distribution cm both of maize, tobacco, and cacao. It i- 

 admitted .is probable that from tlie Mexican and Central A nierieaii region agri- 

 culture travelled northward, and became established among the native tribes. 

 This direction maybe clearly traced in a sketch of their agriculture, such as is 

 given in Mr. Lucien Carr'.s paper on tlio 'Mounds of the ^lississippi \'ulley.' The 

 same staple cultivation passed on from place to place, maize, iianc(3ts, piimpkiiiv 

 for food, and tobacco for luxury. Agriculture among the Indians of the great 

 lakes is plainly seen to have been an imported craft by tlie way in which it had 

 spread to sonm tribes but not to others. The distribution of the potter's art i- 

 Himiliirly partial, some tribes making good earthen vessels, while others still boiled 

 meat in its own skin with hot stones, so that it may well be suppo-sed that the 

 arts of growing corn and making the earthen pot to boil the hominy came 

 together from the more civilised nations of the south. With this northward 

 drift of civilisation other facts harmonise. The researches of Buschmann, pub- 

 lished by the Berlin Academy, show how Aztec words have become embedded 

 in the languages of Sonora, New Mexico, ami up the western side of the con- 

 tinent, which could not have spread there without Mexican intercourse extending 

 far north-west. This indeed has left many traces still discernible in the indu.s- 

 ■trial and decorative arts of the Tueblo Indians. Along the courses of this 

 northward drift of culture remain two remarkable series of structures probably 

 connected with it. The Casus Grandes, the fortified communal barracks (if I may 

 fcio call them) which provided house-room for hundreds of families, excited the 

 astonishment of the early Spanish explorers, but are only beginning to be 

 thoroughly described now that such districts as the Taos Valley have come within 

 veach bv the railroads across to the Pacific. The accounts of these village-forts 



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