The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-07-05
CHINAMENS COUSINS.
A CLAIM THAT AMERICAN INDIANS
ARE OF MoNeoL DESCENT.

Reasons for Thinking They Are - The
Striking Resemblance In Language and
Appearance - Curious Custom of De-
pressing the Skull ArtihciaIIy.
Having in youth visited the upper
Missouri, and obtained considerable
knowledge of the tribes who dwelt on
that river, have always felt a deep in
terest in the investigations as to the ori-
gin of the American Indians. From the
settlement of this country down to our
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
Modoc and his Welshmen, and speaks of
blue eyed and light haired Indians of the
Mandan tribe 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 sample of the way in which
the subject has been dealt with even by
careful and inquiring writers.
SIMILAR WORDS
My 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 Mongolian race. In the
Sioux language, with which have some
acquaintance, the word for a chief, OF
helid man, is "eetoncha. Among GER
tain tribes of Alaska the chief is called
"eeton" 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 perpetuated under any
change of circumstances, just as the
Saxon word 'l1ing, in England, survived
alike Norman conquest and Celtic adj
mixture. The Sioux word for tent, or
home, is ''teepee," and this is very SINH
lar to the Tartar word, while there is
also marked similarity in the appear
ance of the tents alike of the Tartars and
the American Indians. The photographs
brought by travellers from Siberia of the
tribes there subject to Russian authority
might we'll be mistaken for pictures of
American Indians in unusual attire.
1t is true that the Indians are, as
rule, superior in physique to the average
Mongolian, at least to the specimens Of
the Mongolian race that we meet in
America, but the difference is no greater
than between the average Celtic imlni-
grant of fifty years ago and his grandson
Of today; whereas the Indian immigration
probably took place many hundreds of
years ago. The 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
Mongolian race has lately been the sub
ject of considerable observation and re-
mark. One of these tribes-the Guara-
ris-has its seat on the far confines of
Paraguay; yet, in the opinion of 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
golian descent, even if they all came
from Asia. The writer has seen the de-
scendants of the Aztecs in Mexico, and
it is difficult to imagine any relationship
between them and the Mongolian. Yet
Aztec tradition points to the north as
their original seat, and among a people
who had no method of transmitting his
tory by writing tradition is likely to have
been fairly accurate. Europe was not
all settled by one blood. The fair and
the dark haired, the Celt and the Goth,
swept over the continent, the current
eddying here and there, where a wan
dering horde was tempted or compelled
to rest So that other races besides Mon
gols may have emigrated from Asia to
America.
AZTEC TRADITION
The Aztec tradition Of northern mi
grafton is supported by various circum-
stances, and one to the bearing of which,
| think, attention has never before been
called. 1t is well known that the Aztecs
have a slanting forehead-or, in other
words, they have no forehead at all-the
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
the depressed forehead being a sign of
at least respectable rank. 1t is not un-
reasonable to suppose that the origin of
this singular habit may have had some
connection with Aztec supremacy in that
region at a far remote period, when it
became to the interest of subject clan
to have as near a physical resemblance
as possible TO the conquering race.
The American Indians are passing
away. Cities have grown where have
shot the prairie chicken, chased the buff
falo and kept midnight watch for the !
prowling Sioux few years ago. An
other ten years and it will be difficult to |
and an Indian of the sort that followed |
Sitting Bull, and harassed the infant |
settlements Of Dakota They will have |
become half civilized specimens of hu- |
manity, living on the charity of the gov
ernment, without the virtues of indepen-
dence, and with numerous vices of which |
in freedom they were happily ignorant.
These Indians have traditions that are
worthy of being handed down; their Ian
guages, soon to perish, are worth pre-
serving. Letter in New York Star.