out (with casual exceptions easily accounted for) by a construction and combination entirely peculiar. Says Mr. Gallatin,

"The investigation of the languages of the Indians within the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the States, as far as the Polar Sea, has satisfactorily shown that, however dissimilar their words, their structure and grammatical forms are substantially the same. A general examination of the Mexican proper, and of the languages of Peru, of Chili, and of some other tribes of South America, has rendered it probable that, in that respect, all or nearly all the languages of America belong to the same family. This, if satisfactorily ascertained, would, connected with the similarity of physical type, prove a general, though not perhaps universal, common origin." (Notes on the Semi-civilized Nations of Central America, etc., p. 10.) Later investigations of the languages of the Indians of the Pacific coast, whose vocabularies were not sufficiently complete to justify a conclusion respecting them, at the time this paragraph was written, have shown, according to the same authority, that, "In their grammatical characteristics, so far as these can be determined, they belong to the same class as the other aboriginal Indians of America. Many of the forms are precisely the same as those which occur in the languages of the eastern and southern tribes of the continent."

The casual resemblances of certain words in the languages of America, and those of the Old World, cannot be taken as evidences of a common origin. Such coincidences may easily be accounted for as the results of accident, or, at most, of local infusions, which were without any extended effect. The entire number of common words is said to be one hundred and eighty-seven; of these, one hundred and four coincide with words found in the languages of Asia and Australia, fortythree with those of Europe, and forty with those of Africa. hardly be supposed that these facts are sufficient to prove a connection between the four hundred dialects of America and the various lan

It can

guages of the other continent. It is not in accidental coincidences of sound or meaning, but in a comparison of the general structure and character of the American languages with those of other countries, that we can expect to find similitudes at all conclusive or worthy of remark, in determining the question of a common origin. And it is precisely in these respects that we discover the strongest evidences of the essential peculiarity of the American languages; here they coincide with each other, and here exhibit the most striking contrasts with all the others of the globe. The diversities which have sprung up, and which have resulted in so many dialectical modifications, as shown in the numberless vocabularies, furnish a wide field for investigation. Mr. Gallatin draws

a conclusion from the circumstance, which is quite as fatal to the popular hypotheses respecting the origin of the Indians, as the more sweeping conclusions of Dr. Morton. It is the length of time which this prodigious subdivision of languages in America must have required, making every allowance for the greater changes to which unwritten languages are liable, and for the necessary breaking up of nations in a hunter state into separate communities. For these changes, or modi

fications, Mr. Gallatin claims we must have the very longest time which we are permitted to assume; and if it is considered necessary to derive the American race from the other continent, that the migration must have taken place at the earliest assignable period

These conclusions were advanced by Mr. Duponceau, as early as 1819, in substantially the following language:

1. That the American languages in general are rich in words and grammatical forms; and that, in their complicated construction, the greatest order, method, and regularity prevail.

2. That these complicated forms, which he calls polysynthetic, appear to exist in all these languages, from Greenland to Cape Horn.

3. That these forms differ essentially from those of the ancient and modern languages of the old hemisphere.

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It is, however, but just to observe, that the credit of having first discovered the remarkable phenomena which the American system of languages presents, is probably due to the learned Vater, to whom the eminent Adelung left the work of completing the Mithridates or "Allgemeine Sprachenkunde." He observes: "In Greenland as well as in Peru, on the Hudson River, in Massachusetts as well as in Mexico, and as far as the banks of the Orinoco, languages are spoken displaying forms more artfully distinguished, and more numerous than almost any other idioms in the world possess. When we consider these artfully and laboriously contrived languages, which, though existing at points separated from each other by so many thousands of miles, have assumed a character not less remarkably similar among themselves than different from the principles of all other languages, it is certainly the most natural conclusion, that these common methods of construction have their origin from a single point; and that there has been one general source from which the culture of languages in America has been diffused, and which has been the common

centre of its diversified idioms."

The same phenomena was adverted to by Humboldt, whose authority carries with it vast weight in all that relates to America. He says: "In America, (and this result of modern researches is extremely

important with respect to the history of our species,) from the country of the Esquimaux to the banks of the Orinoco, and, again, from these torrid banks to the frozen straits of Magellan, mother tongues, entirely different with regard to their roots, have, if we may use the expression, the same physiognomy. Striking analogies of grammatical construction are acknowledged, not only in the more perfect languages, as that of the Incas, the Aymara, the Guarani, the Mexican, and the Cora, but also in languages extremely rude. Idioms, the roots of which do not resemble each other more than the roots of the Sclavonian and Biscayan, have those resemblances of internal mechanism which are found in the Sanscrit, the Greek, and the German languages.

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It is on account of their general analogy in structure; it is because American languages which have no word in common, (the Mexican, for instance, and the Quichua,) resemble each other by their organization, and form complete contrasts with other languages of the globe, that the Indians of the missions familiarize themselves more easily with other American idioms, than with the language of the mistress country."(Personal Narrative, vol. iii., p. 248.)

It is not necessary to multiply authorities upon this point; for it is worthy of remark that every philologist of distinction who has investigated the subject, has arrived at precisely the same conclusions; although few have ventured to make public the deductions to which they inevitably lead. The doctrine of a diversity of origin in the human race, although gathering supporters daily, has yet so few open advocates, and is generally esteemed so radical a heresy, that investigators in this, as in many other departments of science, hesitate in pushing their researches to their ultimate results. The discussion of the question cannot, however, be long postponed, and it is not difficult to foresee in what manner it will be finally determined.

It should be observed, further, that, although all the American languages possess common elementary features and powers, many of the different vocabularies sustain towards each other still closer resemblances, authorizing their arrangement into groups; and, in conjunction with other circumstances, forming the basis of the aggregation of scattered tribes into families, designated as the Algonquin, Iroquois, etc. Within these groups there are not only grammatical but verbal resemblances, easily detected, notwithstanding that they extend over regions of the continent as wide as those which fall within the range of the most extensively dispersed languages of the Old World.* We cannot,

* Those who desire minutely to investigate the subject, will find ample materials in the "Mithridates" of Adelung and Vater; Gallatin on the Indian Tribes, (second

however, go into a detailed notice of these, nor yet of the general characteristics of the American languages.

The inquiries of students in the department of psychology, so far as the American race is concerned, have not been productive of very satisfactory results. This is not surprising, in consideration of the subtile nature of the elements to which they must be directed. Such investigations cannot probably be pursued with any degree of confidence, until it is determined how far man is a creature of circumstances, and whether, as a general rule, and dealing with aggregates, families of men may not, when subjected to like influences for long periods, exhibit very nearly, if not precisely, the same psychological aspects. History is not old enough to enable us to speak confidently upon so profound a subject; except by interblendings, the great races of men having, physiologically, retained their essential features from the earliest periods with which we are acquainted. Analogy, it might be said, would imply that, psychically, the same law holds good. But if we assent to this, do we not deny the power of mental developement; deny that in his higher nature man is capable of infinite progression ?

It may be said that some families are fierce-others mild; but it is by no means certain that a reversal in the circumstances under which they are placed would not change the destructive savage into the mild agriculturist, and the peaceable tiller of the soil into the fierce and predatory nomad.

Dr. Morton says of the moral traits of the American aborigines : "Among the most prominent, is a sleepless caution, an untiring vigilance, which presides over every action, and marks every motive. The Indian says nothing and does nothing without its influence; it enables him to deceive others without being himself suspected; it causes that proverbial taciturnity among strangers, which changes to garrulity among people of his own tribe; and it is the basis of that invincible firmness which teaches him to contend unrepiningly with every adverse circumstance, and even with death in its most hideous form." The same author adduces the love of war, as another characteristic trait, which developes itself on all occasions, and continues: "It may be said that these features of the Indian character are common to all mankind in the savage state. This is generally true, but they exist in the American race in a degree which will fairly challenge a comparison with similar traits in any

volume of the Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society;) Duponceau's Correspondence with Heckewelder, (Transactions of the Literary and Historica Department of the American Philosophical Soc.;) Transactions of the American Ethnological Soc., vols. i. and ii., etc.

existing people; and if we consider also, their habitual indolence and improvidence, their indifference to private property, and the vague simplicity of their religious observances, we must admit them to possess a peculiar and eccentric moral constitution." Dr. Morton notices the exceptions which the Peruvians and other nations seem to exhibit, but attributes their changed condition to the far-seeing policy of the Incas, and the combination of circumstances which they brought to bear upon the Indian mind. After the Inca power was destroyed," he says, "the dormant spirit of the people was again aroused in all the moral vehemence of the race, and the gentle and unoffending Peruvian became transformed into the wily and merciless savage."

In respect to the intellectual character of the American race, the same authority observes: "It is my matured conviction, that as a race they are decidedly inferior to the Mongolian stock. They are not only aversé to the restraints of education, but seem for the most part incapable of a continued process of reasoning on abstract subjects. Their minds seize with avidity on simple truths, while they reject whatever requires investigation or analysis. Their proximity for more than two centuries to European communities has scarcely affected an appreciable change in their manner of life; and as to their social condition, they are probably in most respects the same as at the primitive epoch of their existence. They have made no improvements in the construction of their dwellings, except when directed by Europeans. Their imitative faculty is of a very humble grade, nor have they any predilection for the arts and sciences. The long annals of missionary labor and private benefaction present few exceptions to this cheerless picture, which is sustained by the testimony of nearly all practical observers." From these remarks, however, Dr. Morton excepts those nations which fall within what he denominates the "Toltecan Family." "Contrasted with the intellectual poverty of the barbarous tribes, like an oasis in a desert, are the demicivilized nations of the New World, a people whose attainments in the arts and sciences are a riddle in the history of the human mind. The Peruvians in the south, the Mexicans in the north, and the Muyscas of Bogota between the two, formed these contemporary centres of civilization, each independent of the other, and each equally skirted by wild and savage hordes. The mind dwells with surprise and admiration on their cyclopean structures, which often rival those of Egypt in magnitude on their temples, which embrace almost every principle of architecture; and on their statues and bas-reliefs, which are far above the rudimentary state of the arts. It follows of course, from the preceding remarks, that we consider the American race to present the

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