The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1873-09-06
The Origin of Mankind.

Under this title somebody sent to the
American Artisan some facts which
indeed, if true, will go far to substan-
tiatc what was before merely srecuia-
ton,
Nh. narwin's theory of the gradual
development of the human race from
Inferior animals, in opposition to the
Mosaic account Of the creation, has
caused much discussion among phi
l0sophcrs, for and against, one aide
being Jealous supporters, ana the other
different opponents u these views,
which nave been made public within
few years. There Is much that is
plausible in Mr.. Darwin's views. Dur
Ing some desultory reading the writer
came across some assertions which so
to prove the theory, which may intc-
est the public, IT IL quite likely that
if the subject was more closely lnvcsti-
gated, othor asserted facts Of the same
character, in other parts of the globe,
might be found. l distinctly remem-
ber having seen something Of the sort
in the letters of missionaries, but can
net now remember where sufficiently
to refer TO them.
The Jurua river is one of the tributa-
ries to the river Amazon, i'll South
America. NJ. Castelnan, a Portuguese
traveller there, wrote book about
twenty years ago, in which he made
soma very strange assertions about the
tribes of savagas who live on the banks
OF this river, giving some Catholic
priest as his authority. He quotes Fa-
ther Noronha as saying that the saw
apc tribes, COuanlas 0nd UHnnS, who
live near the sources of this river, are
of very short stature, scarcely exceed
ing five palms (nbout three and IL half
feet, the last of whom (of this there is
no doubt, have tails, and are produced
by Il mixture of Indians and Coata
monkeys. The believing traveller says
he knows no reason why men should
not Layo tails, and that the savages he
has Travelled among confirmed this
statement. He also gives, pcrddtim,
the affidavit of era Jose de sta. Their
ese RibeirQ,N 10 the effect that one
Menuel aa Silva brought some savages
from this river, who We're provided
with this appendage. When he doubt
ed the assertion of Silva to this effect,
the latter ordered the Indian to strip
off his clothes, that he might "be as
sured of the truth" "There l saw,
without the possibility of error, that
the man had a tail, of the thickness of
finger, and half pang long, covered
with a smooth and naked skin.n The
said Silva declared that this Indiian cut
his tail off every month, Is he did not
like to have i 800 long, and it grew
veyy fast,
NJ. Baena, in his geography of Para,
| sft l,. llrnyi1ian rNrnVinnlG nf tho
| Amazon, repeats these strange asser-
tions. He describes both the above
tribes, and asserts the last named have
tails of three or four palms (about a
yardl long, "according to the report OF
many persons.p NJ. Castelnan adds,
that while descending the Amazoln,
near Fonteba, he saw black Co2ta,epe,
ofenormous Dimensions. "He belonged
to an Indian woman, TO whom offer
ed a large price, for the curious beast,
hut Sbe refused me with burst OF
laughter "Y0ur eithrts are useless, v
said an Indian standing by, that is
her husband
Lieutenant Herndon, of the United
States Navy, who explored the ANA
zon in 1851, SAYS in his report, that he
saw many nf this tribe of monkeys
They average about two and a half fee
high, have few thin hairs on the tor
Of the head, and look like q very oil
negro,
Are these thiIgs soe If so, may
they not be proved beyond doubt? /
so proven, win they not go far to con
firm the truth of Mr. Darwin's yer,
strange and somewhat humiliatinl
ideas rs to the origin of map2