150 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



Aztecs, and extended to Panama. 1 Without entering into 

 any further details, we may also mention the many internecine 

 wars which the Indians have ever carried on between themselves. 

 From the slightest of all causes, sometimes from mere sus- 

 picion of having been bewitched, or from the revenge of an 

 individual who induced his tribe to espouse his cause, wars 

 have ensued, and have become so habitual, that many tribes 

 are incessantly at war. Though these wars have not been 

 generally very bloody, still some were exterminating in their 

 consequences. 



. Thus the Coppermine Indians were nearly exterminated 

 by the Dog-rib Indians (Hearne) ; the Moquis by the Navahoes 

 (Schoolcraft) ; the Osages were, by their numerous enemies, 

 reduced within ten years by one-half. 3 The remainder of the 

 conquered tribe is not unfrequently absorbed by the conquerors, 

 and the name of the former disappears from history. In this man- 

 ner the Creeks are said to have gradually absorbed the re- 

 mainders of fifteen other tribes. Thirdly must be mentioned 

 the wars of the Indians with the whites. It will here be 

 sufficient to notice but a few of the principal facts, as we shall 

 have to treat of them in detail in another place. It is well not 

 to lose sight of them in considering the question, whether the 

 European man possesses, in comparison with other races, the 

 character of humanity in a higher degree. 



It is an historical fact, that the Natches, the Shawanoes, the 

 Delawares, Potowatomies, Seminoles, Kaskaskias, and several 

 other formerly powerful tribes, have, chiefly by the wars with 

 the whites, been either exterminated, or brought so near to ex- 

 tinction, that they no longer exist as nations. Even at this 

 day the Indians in the gold districts of California are hunted 

 like wild beasts ; and recently in Mexico, Indians and white 

 Americans have been hired, and were paid for the scalps of the 

 Apaches. In consequence of some suspicion that other people 

 were killed on account of the prize-money, the practice is now 



1 Ternaux, " Eecueil de docum. sur 1'nist. des possess. Espagnoles dans 

 1'Am.," p. 115, 1840. 



2 Nuttal, " Journal of trav. into the Arkansa ten-it./' p. 172, Philad., 1821 -, 

 Gregg ; " Karawanenzuge durch d. West. Praeriesen/' ii, p. 189, " ^s 



