Star.
London, England, 1820-01-06 00:00:00

ANCIENT AMERICA.

TEE LOST TEN TRIBES.
In proportion as discoveries and investigationi of
the northern districts of the terrestrial globe
into
the they furnish new excitements for inquiry
the origin of the people of America. Captain Cook
was the father of the modern system, and opened the
- way to solve all the difficulties, by stating the breadth
of Behring's Straits, its shallows and coasts; and
what afforded a corroborating testimony to his con-
clusion that this was the true channel, he proved
from visual evidence, that the animals, or many of
them, were similar or. both sides of those Straits. Cap-
tain Burney, in his chronological history of north-east-
ern voyages, has adopted the same basis, and another
Gentleman, who has written-on the subject of ancient
America, has referred to the same probable source ;
but very judiciously proposes a doubt whether there
can have been time, " agreeably to the most received
theories, for the various distinctions el national cha-
racter that are found among the aborigines, as well
in manners as in language." This difficulty is not
new, and has been the cause of the reception of those
theories, by many learned men, as injurious specula-
tions. The discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, Raleigh,
and Cook, are all of very modern date, and do not
furnish a sufficient explanation to the question of the
origin of those ruins of ancient buildings, as well as
of the root of some of the words in common use.
among the hordes of natives, and of some of the cus-
toms found by subsequent travellers to be rimiliar
among them ; and each carry back, to very high an-
tiquity, the tradition of their having been planted in
America by a very remote ancestry. The writer to
whom I have last adverted, has, by a short all usion, the
conjecture to which I would more particularly lead'
Sour inquiries, nan.eiy, to an Hebrew origin; and finds
the names of David, Jacob, Joel, and others, on the
banks of the Rio Negro: but as these names have
become more fAmiliar amongst Christian nations
since the period of Columbus and Cortes in South
America, these do not furnish the exact evidence re-
quired ; for even if he found them among the tribes •
of Quito and Peru, it is at this time not very diffi-
cult to imagine the probability of their having found
their way in consequence of the conquest and com-
munications of the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Eng-
lish amongst them ; but there is a far more probable
mode of accounting for nut only the similarity of
names, customs, and buildings, but for the peopling'
also of the Western Continent from the northern parts
of Asia, to which I shall 17riefly refer you.
In a very curious and elaborate work by Dr. Bou-
dinot, eh:hied, A Star in the West, for which he
spared no pains in acquiring and arranging all the
requisite information, he conceives that he has dis-
covered the lost ten tribes :—he traces them from
their separation under llehoboam, before Christ,
971, through their march and subsequent establish-
ment on the borders of the Caspian Sea ; where their
continuance, at least for a time, is marked by the
Hebraic names of places of their residence, dissimi-
lar from the language of any of the .neighbouring
districts; that thence they proceeded on their jour-
ney northward, dui lag a period of five hundred
years, to Behring's Straits—a hich having crossed,
they first planted their tents in the wildernesses of
North Arne. ica. Now, if the Babylonian captivity
by Nebuchodonosor is coi reedy dated at 606 years
before Christ, it must be allowed that a space of
2123 years will have been sufficient to embrace the
period of this extraordinary emigration, journey, and
latter settlement; and this period will be greatly in-
creased, if we add to it the space of time which
elapsed from the reign of Bel:oho:on, 971 years be-
fore Clalit, When this emigration began, to the cap-
tivity 606, when the entire loss of the ten tribes was
ascertained—a period cf 365 years. This will also
attl.rd time fOr their removal, by tribes, into other dis-
tricts of the Western Continent, and thus enable us
to form a correct conclusion whereby to account for
their traces, by ruins, by names, and by traditionary
history, and by customs in several parts which mo
dern travellers have visited ; and it will also serve to
account for there being still, in some remote parts,
and in several of the nations both north and south,
companies of Jews, in whom a travelling spirit is to
be discovered in their earliest history. It is also well
known, that a large congregation of Jews are settled
in the northern Thibet, who may very probably have
originally formed a part of the lost ten tribes, and
who preferred remaining in what may be deemed the
vicinity of their promised land, to pursuing, as it
were, another journey through the wilderness of
Asia, with their more enterpt izing brethren. Other
writers, and especially Mr. Elphihstone, have, with
the same laudable effort at ditcovery, ascribed to the
modern Affghans this ancient origin, but the truth of
• that speculation seems to require specific proof. Dr.
Boudinot has had more opportunity of observation
of those in America; he states, they are known to be
Jews by their countenances, their names, and many
words in their language, although they are not de.
nominated Jews, either by themselves or others: but
if this be really so, it must be conceded that this
tends to question the correctness of his discovery, be-
cause the dispersion of that ancient and misguided
people was a punishment ; and it would cease to be
seep, if they could at any time become unconscious
of their origin, and national offeacel Dr. Boudiaot,
on the other hand, remarks, that as these ten tribes
were absent from the crucifixion of the Messiah, they
were free from the guilt of it, and will probably be
saved from its penal consequences. He likewise
states some of their traditions, as convincing evi-
dences of their Hebrew origin. They believe that
their ancestors were all destroyed by a flood, except
a few, who built a large canoe, in which they were
saved ;—in their worship, they retain a rude copy of
the tabernacle in the wilderness,with the ark, the priest's
the holy of holies, into which the people
never enter, and the priest only once a-year ;—a peace
offering—a sinoffering,&c.—they pronounce the name
-of DEITY only once a-year—Jah-0 wy hee yaw!
This is their Tetragrammaton: they believe in Goo
as invisible, and Rot to be resembled by any image
or picture—maintain theocracy—a future state—a
SAvtoun—a Great Spirit—a good and evil Spirit—
a world of spirits, who have received judgment, &c.
They use sacred feasts and dances—bury the bones
of the victim, ordering that none of them be broken;
they use the words Alielujah, Shilo, &c. but without
knowing their meaning, or original application.
James Midair, who lived twenty years amongst