The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-28

| scope.
| Moi<im was the nearest to him
| and was lying on his back, his fac,
| flushed and muttering to himself viii
| lips parehed from fever. AS the ole
| man approached him | saw an eX
preston of the most utter astonish
ment pass over his face, and follow
ng his gaze saw that his eyes Wer,
nNed on the rosary or amulet tina
hung about the neck of my shipmate
The next moment he had it in his
hand was breaking into eXclamations
OF wonder and awe, He kept glanc-
ing from the rosary to Mckims face
and suddenly he darted to him, took
his head between his hands, and said
few quick. harsh words, Mckin
stared at him stupidity for "A moment
then answered,
"Annah,"
l did not know it at the time but
have since discovered that the word
for mother" Of the TuscoVered NG
for mother" of the Tuscaroras and
six Nations is "Annah" which is the
same as the Tartar word But the eff
feet on the old man was magical. lie
fairly capered With excitement and in a
moment came rushing over to me and
fired a torrent of questions, but /
simply pointed To Mekim, and then
toward the east. at which he nodded
several times l think / had unwit-
tingly answered his question.
Suddenly Mekim began to talk,
slowly at first. then rapidly and in
coherently. The old man dropped on
his launches beside him and listened
With the most peculiar expression /
ever saw upon human face, Wonder
interest awe and fear chased one an
other suceessyely across his features,
and all the time there was the look of
one listening to a long forgotten melo-
dy AT first l thought MciAim's NUT
terngs We're inarticulate and mean
mgless, but pretty soon l recognized
the fact that he was talking to him
self in a North American Indian dia-
lect, many of the cultural sounds of
which once heard are unmistakable,
and all the while the old Chinaman
was listening with the ecstacy of a
parent who, almost contrary 10 his
| belief. hears the voice of a child whom
| he has long believed dead.
Soon, however, the talking ceased,
! Mckim moaned and raised a bloody
| hand to his head, The old man post
ed off and in few minutes later
some coolies came down with
stretchers, and we We're taken up TO
a hut where, under the supervision
of our aged friend, some of the Wo-
men stripped and bathed us and then
laid us ON mattings covering us With
| homespun blankets, for the evening
was chilly
+ | lay awake long time, partly from
! the pain OF my wound and partly be-
cause the affairs of the afternoon had
suggested something TO my mind. and
the more l thought Ii out the more
convinced | became that my theory
was a possible if not a probable one,
Mckim had once told me that his
grandmother was a Tuscarora squaw,
and that he had been brought up
among the Indians. In that case il
was more than probable that he had
picked up one or more dialects 10
| which, in the feVerish and unbal-
aneed mental condition, his mind
might naturally revert.
/ knew that there were many proofs
of the Asiatic origin of the Indian
tribes of North America the similari-
ty of many words, the same system of
eountingi their strong comparative
anatomical resemblance. as we'll as
those of disposition, religion, ana
system of hieroglyphics, man who
had made a study of philology had
once told me that in eighty three
American languages 17s words have
the same roots in both continents,
Could it not be possible that some
one dialect had preserved its inte-
rosary occurred'to me. and that sug-
gested another train Of thought. Our
captors had not paid any attention
To the thing whatever, except that one
of them ran it through his hands, APP
parently To ascertain if it possessed
any intrinsic value, and had dropped
it as worthless. But the moment the
old man had seen it he had become
violently agitated, and l thought, a
Il. aTs..ur he I.ayI lfaAtr 4
around apprehensiVeiy, and now that
l came to think of it, he was of am
entirely different type from the rest
of the crowd, He seemed more of
Tartar or Hun, which, however, made
ii rather difficult TO account for his
presence away in the southeast OF
Asia.
This suggested another idea, l had
heard of these rosarles being founG
in Thiblet and Mongolia, but never
that l could remember In China
Evidently the rosary had some par
tieular significance TO the old man
that 1t had not to the others, Ana
the old man was of a distinctly differ
ent type. Then / recalled what l knew
about the early history of Asia
remembered that toward the close
Of the twelfth century. one Tchinggis-
khan, the King of the southern
Who had not shared in the great
southwestern movement OF the
Northern Huns, came down from the
aorthern steppes of Mongolia and raw,
lged the country far and wide, He
>verran China Tartary, India, Poland
Hungary, Persia and Syria. Later
his grandson Khan Khoubilai, finish
"a the conquest OF China. and fol
the first time that we know Of sub
iued that vast empire Khoubilai'S
domain was the largest that ever eX,
isted, 1t reached northward to tbs
deserts beyond the In chau Noun
tains, westward into Cobb. the Sandy
Desert; eastward ii touched the River
Siao, and 10 the south it formed th5
shore of the Youe Sea. A hundred
ears later Tchon Youen-Tchan{
founded the great Ming Dynasty one
If the first acts of which was TO eX
pei the Tartars from their domain
Sut the great southern movement o
<houbilai would, / thought account
or the pure Tartar stock in aimos
my part OF the Chinese Empire
Might ii not be that some elan hat
7plt off from the main horde or army
md. being separated and possibly Gu
fl by enemies, had remained or push
ID southeast to strike sea water2
TO trace McKim's Tartar origin was
more difficult but there were few
3trone evidences The rosary aiNar