Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nation. 99 



theory, I would once for all get rid of a few platitudes, and con- 

 ceits, for I cannot call them anything better, that have been put 

 forth in alleged solution of this great problem. There is a 

 legend, then, of the middle ages, that America was discovered in 

 the tenth or eleventh century by Madoc, a Welch Prince. But 

 what is it to us whether Madoc discovered America or not ; for 

 he died and left no sign ? It has been a question also long agi- 

 tated in certain of the Dilettanti Societies of Europe, whether 

 America was not discovered many centuries ago, and called Yine- 

 land, by the Danes and Norwegians. But what is it to us 

 whether it was really so or not ; for surely it will not be sup- 

 posed that the Indians of America are descended from the Danes 

 and Norwegians ? Again, an American clergyman of Huguenot 

 descent, Dr. Boudinot, if I recollect aright, published a volume 

 about the commencement of the present century, to prove, as he 

 presumed he did, that the Indians of America were the Ten Lost 

 Tribes of Israel ; relying, as he did, on a few fanciful resemblances 

 in manners and customs, but without a shadow of evidence, 

 either from history or from fact. It has since been alleged, by 

 certain English reviewers, with a degree of pretentiousness which 

 the case by no means warrants, that America was occupied from 

 the north by the hordes of terrified Asiatics who were frightened 

 out of Asia by the great Tartar conqueror Zenghis Khan. But 

 there is no historical evidence in proof of such a migration ; there 

 was no necessity for it at the time : and even if the point were 

 conceded, it would not advance us one step in accounting for the 

 peopling of America; for there is reason to believe that those 

 wonderful remains of Indo-American antiquity that have so long 

 astonished the civilised world had been in ruins for ages ere 

 Zenghis Khan was born. Finally, it has been alleged that the 

 Chinese discovered America ; but when, or how, or where, the 

 deponent saith not. It is mere assumption, utterly destitute of 

 proof or probability, and intended only to amuse the ignorant 

 and to hide the truth. 



"What, then, is the testimony of that eminent philosopher and 

 keen observer, the Baron Alexander Humboldt, on the subject of 

 the aborigines of America ? Why, it is as follows : " The nations 

 of America, except those which border on the Polar Circle, form 

 a single race, characterised by the formation of the skull, the 

 colour of the skin, the extreme thinness of the beard, and straight 

 glossy hair."* And again — " I think I discover, in the mythology 

 of the Americans, in the style of their paintings, in their languages, 

 and especially in their external conformation — the descendants 

 of a race of men which, early separated from the rest of mankind, 

 has followed for a lengthened series of ages, a peculiar road in 



* Humboldt's Eesearchea, vol. 1, page 15. 



