, 1890-06-07
CHINAMEN'S COUSINS.
A CLAIM THAT AMERICAN INDIANS
ARE OF MoNGoL DESCENT.

Reasons for Thinking They Are
Striking resemblance in Language and
Appearances Curious Custom of De-
pressing the Skull ArtihcIaIy.
Having in youth visited the upper
Missouri, and obtained considerable
knowledge of the tribes who dwelt on
that river, | ave always felt a deep in
terest in the investigations as to the or-
gin of the American Indians. From the
settlement Of this country down to our
own time all sorts of theories have beer
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 ave thought of the simple fact
that the pure blooded Welshman is.
nesher blue eyed nor light haired. And
this is but a 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
is 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 1 have some
acquaintance, the word for a chief, or
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 | nave 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 king, 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 American Indians. The photographs
brought by travellers from Siberia Of the
tribes there subject 10 Russian authority
might well be mistaken for pictures Of
American Indians in unusual attire.
1t is true hat the Indians are, as n
rule. superior in physique to the average
Monaghan, 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 immi-
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 beer 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 iribes-the Guara
rfs-has its seat on the far confines OF
Paraguay; yet, in the opinion of a gen
tleman acquainted with the Tartar
tongue, their speech is distinctly Mon
golian.
II does not follow that all the aborig
maj inhabitants of America are of Mon
goian 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 M~ongolian. Yet
Aztec tradition points TO the north NJ.
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 moi
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 wa tempted or compelled
to rest. So that other races besides Mon
gols may lave emigrated from Asia to
America
T TRADITION.
The Aztec tradition Of northern mi
grafton is supported by various circum-
stances, and one to the bearing of which,
l think, attention has never before been
called 1t is well known that the Aztecs
have n 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 n sign of
Mt least respectable rank. 1t is not I'M
reasonable to suppose that the origin OF
this singular habit may nave had some
connection with Aztec supremacy in that
region at a far remote period, when it
became to the interest of a subject clan
to have as ear a physical resemblance
as possible TO the conquering race.
The American Indians are passing
away. Cities have grown where l lave
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 hu-
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 have traditions that are
- worthy of being handed down: their Ian.
guages, soon TO perish. are worth pre-
serving.-Letter in New York Star.
Objected to tho Size.