New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-08-05

ancan, game Of Crack the Whip" which Is stu
PLAYED by schoolboys. would furnish all the learn
ing required in the prehistoric works of the ONO
Valley.
Taking the ordinary relics Of an American
mound the arrowheads. spear heads flint Makes
bone needles shell beads, stone axes copper se"
gaws and shards Of pottery as criterion 'heie
10 no reason to dissent from Admiral Brnc's con-
clusion that the Mound Builders were on the
same level Of culture with the Redmen known 10
history. AS he says they We're probably OF the
same race. What puzzles him and almost every
investigator. Is the fact that tribes OFTEN con-
tiguous spoke languages so diverse. He evldeh'E
holds the opinion that America populated by
immigrants from both Europe and Asa anu per
hans from, Oceanlca. His allusion to the Basques
strengthens this theory. Considering the MINNIE
number Of sounds that can be made by the
human organs of speech It is incredible that Two
languages could have arisen practically identical
on opposite sides Of the globe OF course those
who maintain the repeated invention OF the
various instrumentauties of culture-Of primitive
machines usages folk lore and so on--might ma
no difficulty in imagining that two tribes remote
from each other might hit on the same forms OF
speech and attribute to these forms or speech
the same meaning But this is carrying the
philosophy Of the accidental to the threshold OF
buresque. The only other conjecture possible in
the light Of the facts is that migration occurred
at some remote period. Biologists now say that
there time when the Atlantic far to the
northward might have been crossed on foot. In
any case instances are known 10 history of the
passage of various articles. Of dead men. and
even Of living persons. from America to the
shores Of Europe. The inhabitants Of the Azores
reported long ago that when the wind blew from
the West they found pine trees thrown up by
the surf which were Of a species totally unknown
to them Martin Vincent pilot to the King of
Portugal. picked up near Cape ST. Vincent
piece OF carved wood. This happened In the time
Of Columbus. On one occasion the bodies Of two
men with features unlike those Of Europeans
were found on the island Of Flores. Boats from
the regions inhabited by the EsQumaux some
times drifed ashore at the Orkneys. 1t is said
that in 1905 a boat full Of American Indians was
met by a French vessel near the English coast.
Even antiquity had a story Of this kind to tell.
Pomponius Mela, and after him Pliny relates that
the Boil or the Suevi sent to Metellus Ceer. when
10 was Pro-Consul Of Gaul. some men Of an I'M
known race who had been driven by tempest
the northern coast Of Europe. Modern in
vestigations respecting the course OF Atlantic
currents are still incomplete: but they may show
In future that what possible from the West
might also have happened from the East. What
ever explanation may be adopted. Admiral Brine
is authority for very stubborn fact bearing on
the origin Of certain tribes IN Yucatan This
fact is naturally connected with the opinion
which he and others well. hold respecting
movements Of American tribes after they reach
the New World He adopts the suggestion de-
rived from the legends Of the Delawares 10 the
effect that the builders n the Ohio mounds We're
1ri, oFs LONG
struggle by other tribes from the Northeast. He
is disposed to connec, the word Tallegawi with
the almost uncxplainable name Toltcc. familiar
to the tradition and history OF Mexico and Cen
trail America This conjecture indicates clearly
enough his line Of thought. The Tallegawi when
driven out from the Onto Valley moved souihward
and westward. not in a body. but in successive
waves He asserts what many students Of lam
guage deny. that vital changes may be very
rapid in savage dialects. and he supposes that
the people who followed each other from: the
area now covered by the United States into Mex
leo had not only modified their language so that
they were unable 10 understand each other. but
had forgotten that they came from the same
stock This surInise accounts In way for tho
alleged differences Of race in the Southwest The
1necdote about the Basques IS almost enough in
itself to confute the notion that language
changes easily. Circumstances Of which we
know nothing at the present day must have In
tervened 10 produce notifications IN speech
among the American tribes. But in addition to
these unknown circumstances the possibility is
always to be considered Of migrations from vari
Gus other continents and the subsequent mixture
Of races under conditions vastly more favorable
10 variation than any known to civilized man.
The natural supposition would be that the people
Of the first migration from the North and their
descendants would be most Likely to retain the
primitive forms Of speech. Whatever changes
occurred in the language Of later immigrants,
even Of the same race would not affect the in
ference which is unavoidable that the earliest
tribes Of eastern North America related TO
the prehistoric Europeans, to the very men. per
haps. whose skulls found in the caves Of France
and Germany have aroused so much discussion
This conjecture does not exclude the possibility
OF many subsequent migrations across the At
lantic from the East. nor does It exclude others
across the Pacific from Asia and Polynesia. It
does not even initiate against Admiral Brne's
cherished belief that the culture and arts, par
ticularly the architecture, Of the great aboriginal
States Of Central America were the direct re-
suit Of civilized teaching. Though his book has
but just fallen from the press the Journey which |
inspired 1t made many years ago. Much has |
been done in the interval by way Of studying |
the extraordinary ruins OF the regions which he
visited. If later investigators question his Opin-
ion that the Mexican god. Quezalcoat, was only |
the dedication Of some wandering stranger who |
gave the Indians their first lessons In civilization
they will do mainly on the ground that the |
opinion is unnecessary. and that the successive |
stages Of culture in America logically be de- |
rived one from another. The question does not |
affect the value Of his book as original con- !
trbution to the study Of American archaeology |
nor it's interest TO the reader Of travels. There IL
much in the volume besides antiquities The |
author inspected for himself most Of the northern
tribes Twenty years ago this could better be
done than to-day for then many II the tribes |