Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-06-20
THE ORIGIN OF OUR INDIANS.
Scientific Opinion to the Effect that
1t Was Purely American.

ScIeHlluc opinion 10 Tie EHecl tDdt
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-buildars
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,
on 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-
prietorship over a prehistoric civiliza-
ton, such as it was. The Indian is
really our own, tOtemS, war dances,
and all, and it is only necessary now
to extend the Monroe doctrine and
call hands off to all outsiders who are
striving to deprive us of the credit due
US. Such are the refiectiops aroused
by an article written by the German
traveller, DR.. Edward Seller, in the
Prussische Jahrbucher of Berlin. He
During the sixteenth century, Ct a
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 in
vessels from a long distance. Later
it was common to picture the ancient
Americans as crossing the Boring sea
in large masses. The proofs offered
in defence of these theories are rot
very convincing. The old story .old
by Aristotle, that ships from Carthage
sailed west from the Pillars of Her
cules until, after many days, they
discovered great uninha bited islands
with large rivers, will hardly be ac-
cepted as a pre-Columbian discovery
of America, and the PlatOnic fairy
tales about Atlantis are Just as Unro-
liable. Ancient Chinese annals speak
of the land of Fu-San, 1900 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 it's rulers
and the customs of its people describe
it as altogether ASiatic. Flu San was
probably one of the islands north of
Japan, but certainly not Mexico. The
attempts to deduce the beginnings of
American civilization from foreign
sources are all the more curious as no.
body tries to prove that Chinese civ
ilization 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 to
them strange and impenetrable. The
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
belonged strictly to the soil, where it
developed, and it influenced the whole
of the continent Only a Shall portion
of the North American tribes lived
exclusively as hunters and fishermen.
Even the wild prairie Indians, the Da-
kotas, Cheyennes, and Mandans, knew
something of agriculture. In Ian
guageS, religion, customs, and tribal
constitution all Indians show a Won
derfh similarity to the MeXicans and
to each other, which leads to the as
sumption that all came from a COM
mon stock
The writer thinks that croSs-shaped
we'll be taken as proofs of the prehls-
torn visits of Christian missionaries,
nor do Chinese signs prove the pres
ence of Buddhistic monks. Inventions
are often made, and do not prove that
cOmmunica tion between the 1nyen tors
has taken place. A close examination
of the ancient mythology Of the In
dams shows that additions were made
to please the Spaniards. Before the
arrival Of the latter there was no
legend pointing to a European origin
Of the ancient legends or the gods
whose deeds they describe. On this,
point DR.. Seller says:
in truth, the traditions of South
America contain nothing that can be
construed into a proof of an introduc-l
ton of old world civilization. The.
story that an entire people reached
on RATS and founded a
dynasty there, as well as the tale that
a foreign race landed on the coast of
Ecuador and established a new dy- :
nasty in the capital of that country,
must be regarded as referring to sea
voyages of a somewhat local claTac-
ter. The Monroe doctrine with I