Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-06-20
THE ORIGIN OF OUR INDIANS.
Scientific Opinion to the Effect that
1t Was Purely American.


America is not rich in the relics of
antiquity, says the Literary Digest
Travellers tell us we are too new and
too fresh to be interesting. EVEN
when we point to the mound-buildals
and cliff-dwellerS we are met with
the theory that they were not in
digenous, but We're an importation
from Carthage, or Atlantis, or CHINA,
or some other far-away land. AT last,
however, we are coming to our rights,
and may be allowed soon to indulge
the proud sense of undisputed pro-
priet0'ship over prehistoric ciyiliza-
ton, such as it was The Indian isl
and all, and ii is only necessary now
to extend the Monroe doctrine and
call hands off TO all outsiders who arel
stmving TO deprive us of bhe credit duel
us. Such are the refectiors aroused
by an article written by the German
traveller, DR.. Edward Seller, in the
Prltssische Jahrbucher of Berlin. HeI
expresses his views as follows:
During the sixteenth century, al al
time when it was much more diff
cult TO determine the size and shape
OF the American continent, the idea
prevailed that the ancestors Of the In
dams had reached the continent inl
vessels from long distance. Later
il was common to picture the ancient
Americans as crossing the Bering sea
in large masses The proofs offered
in defence of these theories are rotl
very convincing. The old story odd
by Aristotle, that ships from Carthag
sailed west from the Pillars Of Her
cules until, after many days. they
discovered great uninhahted islands,
with large rivers, will hardly be ae-
cepted as a pre-Columbian disc 1veIv
of America, and the Platonic fairy
tales about Atlantis are just as unre
liable. Ancient Chinese annals speak
of the land of Fu-San, $4,000 Ii east
of China. and this has been thought
to refer TO Mexico. But Fu-San was
a country well known TO the Chinese,
and the descriptions given of its rulers
and the customs of its people described
it as altogether Aslatic Flu San was
probably one of the islands north of
Japan. but certainly not Mexico. Thel
attempts to deduce the beginnings OIL
American civilization from foreign
sources are all the more curious as no
body tries to prove that Chinese civ
illzation began in Egypt or Indian
civilization in Chaldea The Mexicans
relate that their ancestors lived as
hunters in the north. The Aztecs say
that their fathers lived On an island
in the sea. 1t is very probable that
some of the Mexican tribes only re-
garded the north as their ancient
home because the north appeared toI
them strange and impenetrable. TheI
tale that the Aztecs came from over
the water may be explained by the
fact that they settled on an island in
a salt water lake.
Mexican civilization shows that It'll
belonged strictly to the soil, where il
developed. and 1T influenced tine whole
of the continent. Only small portion
of the North American tribes lived
exclusively as hunters and fishermen.
EVEN iltS WIZ tAttAt4Nt liz -
kotas, Cheyennes, and Mandans, knew
something of agriculture. In Ian
guages, religion. customs, and tribal
constitution all Indians show wol-
derful similarity to the MeXicans and
Ia each other, which leads to the as
sumption that all came from a com
mon stock
The writer thinks that cfoSs-shaped
ornaments and hieroglyphics cannot
well be taken as proofs Of the prehis-
toric visits of Christian missionaries.
nor DO Chinese signs prove the pres
ence of guddhistic monks. Inventions
are often made, and do NOT prove that
communication between the inventors
has taken place. 4 close examination
w the ancient mythology ~ the In
dams shows that additions We're made
to please the Spaniar,ls. Before the
arrival of the latter there was no
legend pointing to a European origin