The record-union., 1897-07-15

| the inha abitants of Asia than they do
| like Americans and to the Ainas Of
| Japan and some of the inhabitants of
| Corea and of Thibet who are perfect
| types of the North American Indian.
| There is the same straight hair, the
| high cheek bones and general express
| ion of the Indian. In the Alaskan we
| find the lighter skin, the narrow eyes,
| the arrangement of the hair and gener-
al characteristics of the Japanese. They
| live in houses, pursue the arts of peace
and of the chase and have a round of
| traditions very similar to that of their
| insular prototypes. Although similar in
character to certain Indian beliefs, their
| religious system has some general prin
| cipleS in common with the earlier forms
! of japanese worship. Pictures of a
northwest coast chief lying in state
| show a scheme of ceremonial dress al
most identical with that assumed by
/ the Grand Llama of Thibet. We find the
Alaskans indulging in theatrical per-
formances which are displayed from a
platform. The masks used by the chiefs
in ceremonial dances may be seen al
most in duplicate in Thibet. The cary
/
feast house in the villages on Prince
of Wales Island. Alaska, are of very
similar character to the carvings on
Corean implements and on certain uten-
| sils used in Thibet In Corea the trav-
eler repeatedly comes across carved
images and immense elongated wooden
statues sticking from the ground which
| bear a definite resemblance to the to-
| tenn poles Of Alaska. Some of these
| Corean statues are much the same in
! form, though Of different material, as
the famous stone heads of Easter ISL
and in the Pacific Ocean. Again at Ra-
roera, New Zealand, near the tomb of
the daughter of Whero- Where, stands
Tiki, of totem pole, which is an abso-
Lutte fac simile of the totem poles used
| in the northwest. 1t seems to be one of
| the numerous defiant statues which
abound in the island, but natives say
that the lowest figure on the pole rep
| resents Maui the Atui, who, according
to Maori tradition, fished up the island
| from the sea bottom. This CORES
| pOnding use Of totem poles and images
in widely varying districts would seem
| to suggest basis for a theory Of in
! accommodation between widely sep
arated peoples
We lind woven grass hats in use on
the northwest coast of America of a pat
| tern and texture very similar to the
hats used in China, Corea and Japan.
| On the other hand, in COrea may be
found pipes which might have been
made by any primitive American Indian.
Again, in Alaska, pipes have been dug
up which exhibited undoubted antiquity,
but in which the bowl hole was so small
and the general arrangement such as to
suggest the use of opium. The game of
dominoes is Asiatic and ancient. 1t
abounds in China, Corea, Japan, and ST.
herla, and we also find primitive dom
inoes Whitfield of bone among the Eski-
mo tribes of the north, and their tradi-
tions indicate that it is a very ancient
game. In addition to these specific cases
general resemblances may be found in
the weapons, the rude games, the
household and cooking utensils. the
manner of dress and in the thousand
and one other customs and ways in
which one people could resemble an
other. The inhabitants of the northwest
coast even build very substatial houses
Not mere huts but elaborate affairs
containing galleries and rude bedrooms,
showing an advancement and, to a GER
tain extent, a culture which savors of
the far East rather than of the far
Northwest.
But there is a school of paIenontol-
olgy and ethnology, the members of
which hold that these forms of resem-
blance are not sufficient to warrant the
assumption that the two races must
have sprung from the same clan. This
school of scientists claims that because
a savage living on the equator dances
and yells when he is oVerjoyed and an
other savage living on the northwest
coast happens to do the same thing for
the same reason, this similarity in ex-
preston does not necessarily prove near
relationship between them, but that it
Is natural for savage man to dance and
yen When overJoyed, just as it is nat
ural for him to eat when hungry. The
answer of the school opposed to this
argument is: Well, how did the Indian
get mere? He is not a spontaneous pro-
ouct or the soil, and granting any the
ory OF evolution, he must yet have en-
lgrated from Asia, which country is
generally conceded to be the cradle of
the human race. If climatic conditions
nave influenced his color gradually the
process would naturally be slow in COM
ING about, and that in itself would pre-
suppose great antiquity for the race.
Al least Ia the few hundred years dur
ing which Europeans have inhabited
America there seems to be no influence
in the climate which would give their
lair skins the color of copper
But there is a decided and easiIv
traced similarity existing between. the
japanese and the American Indian.
There is the same superficiality in MANY
things, the same physiological charac-
terlstlcs which in the case of the Ainas
may be fairly outlined The Ainas If
may be stated, are an ancient and
primitive race inhabiting Japan. grad
uaIly dWindling in numbers under the
aggression of the modern and more civ
lllzed Jap, who, by the way. is taken
by many to be the ancient invader of
the island he now calls his native land
w neither this aggression once led the
Jap across the seas Or whether it drove
the Ainu across is a question but there
was and is ample opportunity for in
habitants of the East crossing the Pa
clhc Ocean, by accident, if not by de-
sign Spars of vessels known to have
been wrecked on the Japan coast have
been found floating near the American
shores. The set of certain currents
trends in just the manner needed to
float a small boat across the Pacific and
the very name of the ocean is sufficient