296 GOSSIP THE AFFINITY OF RACES. 



claims a similar affinity for the Micmac language. I have placed 

 the examples he has given in juxta-position with those of Edwards, 

 [on the black board.] 



Albert Gallatin, an American Secretary of State, who bestowed 

 much attention on the Indians, in an analysis of the various langua- 

 ges of the northern half of the American Continent, has shown that 

 they are all similar in construction, and making allowance for the 

 total separation from each other of many of the tribes, that they are 

 derived from one original language, which may be taken to be the 

 most ancient on the face of the earth. 



Father Joseph Gumilla, in his account of the nations bordering 

 on the Orinoco, relates ** that the Charaibes of the continent punish 

 their women caught in adultery like the ancient Israelites, by stoning 

 them to death before an assembly of the people." There is no trace 

 that such a custom existed amongst the insular Caribs who, before 

 they had any intercourse with Christians had no established pun- 

 ishment for adultery, which was unknown as a crime. As such a 

 fact is not described by any other author, it may not be well founded. 

 It is supposed to have been brought forward to support an hypo- 

 thesis which has always been received with more or less favour — 

 that the aborigines were descended from the Jews. But were the 

 relation worthy of all credence, while it would be a remarkable 

 coincidence, it would not follow that the punishment was derived 

 from Moses' Law, which doubtless in this as in many other instances, 

 was a counterpart of that instituted at a much earlier period in the 

 history of mankind, and again rendered necessary under the circum- 

 stances in which the Israelites were placed.* 



They had other customs, observances and ceremonies, indicative 

 of high antiquity, which appear to have been possessed by the most 

 ancient nations bordering the Mediterranean. They are described 

 as having voracious appetites, and yet to have rejected many of the 

 best bounties of nature. Of some animals they held the flesh in 

 abhorrence : these were the peccary or Mexican hog, an animal very 

 much resembling our swine, the manati or sea cow, and the turtle. 

 Labat observes that they scrupled likewise to eat the eel, which the 

 rivers in several of the islands supply in great plenty. The confor- 



*The Mexicans punished the crime of adultery by stoning to death : but their code 

 of morality was much stricter than that of the Caribs. 



