260 MEXICO. 
We are thus, in all probability, for ever stopped in our investigations of 
the origin of these races ; — either from their Monuments or their written 
Records. We are left to trace national relations by similar buildings, 
similar dresses, similar traditions, similar worship, similar governments, 
or similar faith; but all these identities are not inconsistent with the idea 
arrived at by Mr. Bradford in his Researches on the Origin and History 
of the Red Race, that the Aborigines of America may have been " a prim- 
itive branch of the human family."* 
I confess, when I recollect the Mexican tradition, that the original tribes 
came to their beautiful valley, after many years and vicissitudes of a 
dreary pilgrimage from the north, I have not thought it fanciful to be- 
lieve, that they may have belonged to one of the two races described by 
Mr. Wirt, as extinct before the origin of the present Red Men of our for- 
ests and prairies. Wave after wave of the flowing tide of humanity may 
have beaten gradually along this Continent from north to south, each urg- 
ing on the preceding. Tired of the hunter life at the inhospitable north, 
they wandered off to the south. A straggler now and then returned with 
a tale of the genial climate, shady groves, and prolific soil of the central 
regions ; — and, thus, family after family, colony after colony, tribe after 
tribe, was induced to quit its colder homes, and settle in the south. As 
in the Old World, that south became the centre of civilization. Men 
were modified by climate. The rude savage, who depended upon the 
chase for subsistence at the north, and dwelt in caves or sheltered under 
the forest leaves, awoke to a new idea of life in his newer home. The 
energy of his character was not yet lost ; — he saw the magical power of 
agriculture, and a new idea was revealed to him through its mysterious 
agency. There was no need of excessive toil in the fields or in the for- 
ests. His spirit became less warlike, and more social, as men congregated 
in populous neighborhoods. While, in the north, the merest and fewest 
necessaries — his weapon, his breastwork, his fireplace, his cave for a 
dwelling, and a mound for a grave — sufficed the Indian, his whole purposes 
and instincts assumed a diflferent character in the south. 
The warrior and hunter loved the hardships taught him at the north, 
by his wandering habits from infancy ; — but, the burning sun and milder 
climate of the south, while they inclined to peace and longevity, induced 
him to build tasteful and sheltering edifices for himself and his posterity. 
The adoration of his gods, became an enthusiasm, under more fervid skies ; 
* In Mr. Norman's work on Yucatan at page 218, there is a letter from Doctor Morton, the celebrated author 
of " Crania Americana," in which, after expressing his thankfulness to Mr. N. for the opportunity aiforded him 
of examining certain bones brought from Yucatan, he observes, that, " dilapidated as they are, theu characters, 
as far as 1 can ascertain them, correspond with all the esteological remains of that people which have hitherto 
come under my observation, and go to confirm the position, that all the American tribes (excepting the Esqui- 
maux, who are obviously of Asiatic origin,) are of the same unmixed race. I have examined the skulls (now in 
my possession) of four hundred individuals belonging to tribes which have inhabited almost every region ot North 
and South America, and I find the same type of organization to pervade and chamcterixe them all. 
" I much regret that we have in this country so few skulls of the Mongolian or Polar tribes of Northern Asia. 
These are all important in deciding the question whether the Aboriginal American race is peculiar and distinct 
from all others ; a position which I hhv. always maintained, and which I think will be verified when the requisite 
means of comparison are procured." 
