Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-01-04

between DR.. Albert s. Ashmead. the
anthropologist of New York. and Sol
Berliner, the American consul at Ten
eriffe. for the shipment of fossils which
will do much to strengthen a new
theory as 10 the first inhabitants Of
America. DR.. Ashmead is of the opin-
ion that the original American did not
come from Asia. but travelled across
a reef of land. now submerged. that
extended from Spain to the Canary
islands and thence to the West Indies
and South America. This emigration
came to pass $4,000 years ago. The
glacial period had been in existence
for long time. according to DR.. Ash
mead, and many Of the inhabitants
doubtless had never seen water except
in the form of ice. Then came the
"postglacial" period. when the water
began to rise and break up the ice. II
is supposed that there were thousands
living on top of The Alps. who were
crowded out by the rise of the water.
Being ignorant, the men of the colony
allowed their beasts of burden 10
think for them. Dr. Ashmead says
the reindeer and the llama would not
endure the new conditions without a
struggle The reindeer desired ice and
snow and the llama was ever in search
of rich pasture land. So the reindeer
trekked to Norway and Sweden and
the llama and the ancient two and
three toed horse started out for this
continent.
Dr. Ashmead has spent thousands Of
dollars TO prove his theory regarding
the original population of America
One of the points upon which DR.. Ash
mead bases his assertions is the evil
dence that the same diseases existed
in South America that were prevalent
in the mummy graves of Peru indicate
skin tuberculosis, which was prevalent
in the Ligurian peninsula of Europe.
On the other hand, he has found no
indications of leprosy, as would be the
case were the movement to this coun-
try from Asia. In this connection he
has been upheld by some of the
learned men in the United States and
abroad The tiny statues which are
found in the graves of some districts
of South America form a fascinating
study. When a prehistoric man or
woman of that period was buried it
was the custom to bury with the body
a representation of it when alive.
The disease of which the person died
was indicated clearly, besides other
tokens, showing the social caste, oc-
cupation and wealth in life. A number
of these potteries indicate that the
disease of wolf cancer, at one time a
scourge of western Europe, was preva-
lent in South America If the nose or
mouth of the victim was affected It
was usual n those days to cut off the |
offending member. The images show |
the horrible results of such operations. |
In all the cases examined there are
ho images representing the ravages of
leprosy on the hands and feet. Usually |
the hands are represented as being
perfect. This, in the opinion of DR.. |
Ashmead, destroys the theory of the /
race movements from Asia. If Mr.. |
Berliner succeeds in obtaining the es-
sential fossils and images in and about |
Teneriffe DR.. Ashmead will regard his i
theory as fairly well complete. The !
last remaining vestige of the arm of
land which in prehistoric days stretch |
ed across the ocean is supposed to be
what are now the Canary islands. Led |
by their llamas and horses, the original
Americans made their way across |
what is now the Atlantic ocean and
finally made their home in South |
America. This region at that time was