, 1890-07-04
CHINAMEN'S COUSINS
4 CLAIM THAT AMERICAN INDIANS
ARE OF moNGoL DESCENT.

Reasons for rhinkinS They Are
Striking Resemblance In Language and
Appearance - Curious Custom of De-.
pressing the skull ArtiGciaIIy.
Having in youth visited the upper
Missouri, and obtained considerable
knowledge of the tribes who dwelt on
that river, l have always felt n deep in
terest in the Investigations As TO the orr
gin of the American Indians. From the
settlement of this country down to u
own time all sorts of theories have been
advanced, some Of them of the widest
character, and others plausible and rea-
sonable. Catlin tells the story of Prince
o and his Welchmen, and speaks of
blue eyed and light haired Indians of the
MandaI tTtbe IN support of the legend.
Neither Catlin nor any of his critics
seem to have thought of the simple fact
that the pure blooded Welshman is
neither blue eyed nor light haired. And
this is but n sample of the way in which
the subject has been dealt with even by
careful and inquiring writers.
SIMILAR WORDS.
Ny own opinion-if it is of any value
lis that the North American Indians,
or the greater part of them, are descend
ed from Asiatic immigrants and closely
akin to the Monaghan race. In the
Noux language, with which / nave some
acquaintance, the word for u chief, oil
head man, is ~"eetoncha." Among GER
tain tribes of Alaska the chief is called
lection" and ''tyone." This certainly
brings us very near the Japanese word
tycoon l have mentioned this word
in particular because it is one of the
terms likely to be perpctuated under any
change of circumstances, just rs the
Saxon word liking. - in England, survived
alike Norman conquest and Celtic ad-
mixture. The Sioux word for a tent, or
home, is ''teepee." and this is very SINH
lar to the Tartar word, while there is
also a marked similarity in the appear
ance of the tents alike of the Tartars and
the Americana Indians. The photographs
brought by trail elers from Siberia Of the
tribes there subject to Russian authority
might well be mistaken for pictures of
american Ind Jams in unusual attire.
1t is true that the Indians are, rs n
rule, superio1in physique to the average
Monaghan, at least to the specimens OF
the Monaghan race that we meet in
America, but the difference Is no greater
than between the average Celtic immi
grant of fifty years ago and his grandson
of today; whereas the Indian immigration
probably took place many hundreds OF
years ago. Tho writer has not been the
only traveller impressed by the resem-
blance of Indians to the Mongols. Both
in Central and South America tribes
have been found whose likeness, in Ian
guage, physique and manner, to the
Monaghan race has lately been the sub.
ject Of considerable observation INT re.
mark. One of these fribes-the Guara.
ris-has its seat on the far confines OF
Paraguay; yet, in tho opinion of n gen
tleman acquainted with the Tartar
tongue, their speech Is distinctly Mon
golian.
1t does not follow that all the aborig
inal inhabitants Of America ARE of Mon
goian descent, even if they all came
from Asia. The writer has seen the de
s%oendhnts OF tho Aztecs in Mexico, and
it is difficult TO imagine any relationship
between them and the Monaghan. Yet
Aztec tradition points to the north nv
their original seat, and among n people
who had no method of transmitting his.
tory by writing tradition is likely to have
been fairly accurate. Europe was not
all settled byaasAood. The fair and
. the Dark haired, the Celf and tine Goth,
swept over the continent, the current
eddying here and there, where n wan.
dering horde was tempted or compelled
to rest. So that other races besides Mon
gols may have ~emigrated from Asia TO
America.
zTE TRADITION.
The Aztec tradition of northern my
grafton is supported by various circu1n
stances, and one to the bearing of which,
l think, attention has never before been
called. It is well known that the Aztecs
nave a s~lanting forehead-or, in other
words, they nave no forehead at all-thS
skull being depressed in front almost on
an angle with the nose. A tribe in
British Columbia has for ages practiced
the custom of depressing by artificial
means the foreheads of children so as to
make the head look very'like that of an
Aztec. This is not done to the heads Of
children of the lowest class in the tribe
tho depressed forehead being n sign OF
as least respectable rank. 1t is not I'M
reasonable to suppose that the origin Of
this singular habit may have had some
connection with Aztec supremacy in that
pegion at n far remote period, when 1t
Nal ~ Nv AAlAtAN0b VI ouDJtNl Nltu
to have as near n physical resemblance
as possible to the conquering race.
The American Indians are passing
away. Cities have grown where l have
shot the prairie chicken. chased the buff
falo and kept midnight watch for the
prowling Sioux a few years ago. An
other ten years and it will be difficult to
find AN Indian of the sort that followed
Sitting Bull, and harassed the infant
settlements of Dakota. They will have
become half civilized specimens of hui
mainly, living on the charity of the gov
eminent, without the virtues of indepen-
dence. and with numerous vices of which
in freedom they were happily ignorant
These Indians AVE traditions hat are
worthy Of being handed down; their lam
guages, soon to perish, are worth pre-
serving.-Letter in New York Star.
Objected to tho Sire.