tion feftival; but as this kind of compofure, though perfectly agreeable to my compatriots, is not extremely favourable either to contemplation or compofition, I fhall, like the Spectator, return to Weltminster, as to the region of quiet; when I shall perfonally affure you that I am Your obedient humble Servant, J. M. CONJECTURES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE NATIONS OF AMERICA. WAS America known to the Ancients is a question which, though frequently difcuffed, has never been decided. Plato tells us, that the Egyptian Priests fpoke to Solon of a certain ifland, called Atlantis, fituated, faid they, feveral days voyage from the Straits of Gibraltar. This island, according to the report of the Priests, was of greater extent than all Lybia, but had been fwallowed up by the fca and a violent earthquake. Diodorus Siculus likewife fpeaks of a large island, towards which the Phoenicians were driven by a tempeft. He adds, that the Carthaginians were anxious to keep the knowledge of this inland from every other commercial nation, that they might enjoy the exclusive advantage of it. If Plato only had spoken of this ifland of Atlantis, what he fays might be confidered as allegorical: but the teftimony of Solon, or of the Egyptian Prielts, gives fome function to the tradition. What Diodorus Siculus advances will not bear a critical examination, because he speaks from fabulous traditions. But fuppofing his reports were well grounded. they might relate to the Canary Islands, Ireland, or England. It is not my intention to enter into a difcuffion of this fubject, but only to examine in what manner America may have been peopied. There are three fuppofitions to choofe from either the Americans are the aborigines of America, or they came thither from fome other part of the globe, or we ourfelves are colonies from that country. If we had not the testimony of Genefis, we might defend the first propofition, and likewife the fecond. The question on the eternity of the world was never decided by the Heathen philofophers. There have been nations, the Athenians for inftance, who maintained that they were not defcended from any other people. As to the third fuppofition, it is certain that the Mexicans imagine the Kings of Spain defcended from their first Sovereign Quezalkoal, and are convinced that Spain was conquered by the Mexicans many ages before the difcovery of America. This does not agree with the records of history; and in this refpect the Mexicans are the dupes of that vanity which has perfuaded other nations that the sciences, arts, and political inftitutions, originated with them. I thall mention only one example. Most of the European literati are convinced, that Pythagoras communicated to the Indians his ideas on the metempfychofis, and that these fame Indians owed their political inftitutions to the Egyptians on the contrary, it is certain that Pythagoras, and the other Greek philofophers, fo far from carrying their fcience to India, learned from the Indians all that they themfelves knew. : At the prefent day, there are many learned men who will not even give themselves the trouble to examine whether the Egyptians inftructed the Indians, or the Indians the Egyptians; because, from the testimony of Latin authors, copied from the Greeks, they are accustomed to believe, that the Egyptians were in every thing the predeceffors and instructors of the Indians. I do not think that either the first or third fuppofition I have flated can be defended; but it might lead to long difcuffions, as well as every other abfurd opinion broached antecedent to the prefent time. If we did not poffefs the information in the facred pages, it would be fuficient to confider the indolence, the inactivity, and want of fciences and arts, amongst the natives of America, in comparison with the genius, invention, and induftry, of the ancient world, in order to be convinced that the Americans never left their country to visit the rest of the world. Thus it is America that has been fought, or at least vifited, either accidentally or by defign, by foreign nations. In In what manner has this communication operated? The folution of this question would require a perfect acquaintance with the language of every nation of the globe, their characters, religion, manners, and cuftoms. It would first be neceffary to be able to compare the languages of the Weft Coast of Africa with thofe of the South American nations. It would not be impoffible to procure a vocabulary of a few hundred words in all the known Janguages of the universe. La Condamine thought this the only method likely to difcover the origin of the Americans. For this purpofe fuch a vocabulary would be infinitely preferable to the Lord's Prayer, which has been tranf. lated into the various languages of numerous favage tribes; but as thefe favages have no words to exprefs moral or metaphyfical ideas, it is difficult to comprehend how that prayer can be tranflated into their language. It should not be too hastily concluded from the refemblance of words that the origin of certain nations is the fame. Will it be maintained, for inftance, that the Greenland and Latin languages have fome affinity, because the word ignack and the word ignio both fignify fire? On the other hand, fome are too difficult on the fubje&t of the affinity of language, without confidering with fufficient attention that every nation poffeffing certain letters and certain founds peculiar to itfelf, cannot pronounce all the founds of another language, and that thence re. fults a strongly-marked variation in the words. It would probably require above a century to make fuch a collection of words as I am fpeaking of; and this difficulty alone feems imperiously to forbid this method. There remains another, which is, to compare the cuftoms, ufages, and manners of life, of the Americans and of other nations in every age. It is true that two nations, very remote from each other, may have a striking coincidence, without being defcended from the fame ftock; but when very fingular, and feemingly unnatural, cuftoms are found amongst different nations, they must either have been invented in both countries, or have been imitated by one or the other the laft fuppofition is the most probable. :: SINGULAR FORM OF GOVERNMENT. In the kingdom of Calicut, and in the Malabar States, the King is not fucceeded by his fon, but by his fitter's fon. The Princes marry from amongst the people, and their children have not the rank of Princes. The Princeffes marry Bramins, and the children of thefe Bramins compofe the Royal Family. The eldest of thefe Princes fucceeds to the throne; and thus there is fcarcely ever any minority. The fame fyitem is obferved in Africa, amongst the nations inhabiting between the Senegal and Riovolta. In America, in the island of Haïti, now St. Domingo, the dignity of Princes was hereditary; but when the Cacique died without children, the fovereignty devolved to the children of his fitters, to the exclufion of his brother's children. Upon the death of an Iroquois Chief, the fucceffion is transferred to the children of his mother's fifter. The fame regulation is established amongst the Hurons, the Natches, and the favages of the Miffiffippi: they fay, that the children of a Chief's fifter may with greater certainty be confidered as of the blood of that Chief than his own children. FUNERAL CEREMONIES. In ancient as well as in modern history, we find examples of the custom of interring their wives and flaves together with the bodies of Princes and Chiefs. Herodotus, fpeaking of the Scythians, near the Boryfthenes, fays, that when the Sovereign died, one of his concubines, his cup bearer, his cook, two other domestics, and likewife his horfes and golden cups, were interred with him. Lucian teils us the fame thing. The Romans facrificed prifoners at the funerals of diftin guished perfons: these pritoners were obliged to fight each other till they were all destroyed. Cæfar relates, that the Soldurii devoted themselves to death when their patrons died. He fays in another place, that the custom of burning the fervants and dependents of powerful men, upon the death of the latter, had been abandoned. The ancient Danes buried widows with their hufbands. The hif torian Dalin afferts, that the fame thing was cuftomary in Sweden. De Guines informs us, that amongst the Turkish Turkish nation called Houi Re, at the funeral of a man, those of his wives who had not borne him children were buried with him; and even at the prefent day, the women of India frequently burn themselves on the corpfes of their hufbands. Marco Polo relates, that at the interment of the Mogol Tartars, all those who happened to meet the proceffion on the way were killed, in order to provide him with fervants in the other world. In the Mogol tombs that are continually difcovered are found quantities of bones, placed round thofe of the principal perfon, which probably belonged to the perfons facrificed for the purpose of accompanying him in the tomb. Amongst the Jakuts, now under the dominion of Rutfia, and who formerly were fubject to Mogol Princes, the chief domeftic of the deceafed burned himself in ftate on a tomb erected for the purpose, and went to ferve his mafter in the other world. This custom was doubtlefs common among the Mantehoux Tartars; for Duhalde informs us, that the Emperor Schnutchi, the founder of the dynasty now on the throne of China, having loft a fon and daughter, ordered twenty people to be put to death to appease the manes of the deceased. Cham-hi, the fucceffor of that Prince, found it very difficult to abolish this custom. 'The fame practice was likewife found amongst the Afghans, a predatory nation inhabiting the Perfian confines, and amongit the inhabitants of the Philippines. In the kingdoms of Whidah and Benin, a great number of his fubje&s are immured alive in the tomb of the King, when he dies. Thefe kingdoms are fituated on the western coast of Africa, that is to fay, on that part of the ancient continent the neareft to the new. In the island of Haïti, or St. Do. mingo, when a Cacique died, a great number of people was interred alive with him, and particularly fome of his wives, and they commonly contested who should enjoy that honour. The cultom of putting flaves to death when their master died passed from the American islands to the Mexicans and Peruvians, and from thence to the Natches. SHAVING THE HEAD A SIGN OF we fee that Mofes forbade the Ifraelites to imitate the Pagans in this particu. lar. Originally, dying perfons had their hair cut off, because it was imagined that they would not be received into Pluto's kingdom if this precaution were neglected. Alceftes and Dido afford instances of this cuftom. In the fequel, the relatives likewife cut off their hair as a fign of mourning. The Scythians of the Borysthenes, according to the teftimony of Herodotus, likewife cut off their hair at the funeral of their Kings. The Greek and Latin Poets make frequent mention of this cultom; it actually constituted an offering; and we fee that Hecuba parted with her hoary locks as a facrifice at the tomb of Hector. Petronius, fpeaking of the Ephefian matron, fays, that the placed her hair on the breast of her deceafed husband. Buf bequius, Ambaffador of Ferdinand King of Hungary to Solyman the Sultan of the Turks, fays, that on most of the tombs in Servia you find hair which has been laid there by the relatives as a token of grief. The Servians being Chriftians could not offer their hair as a facrifice: but experience fhews, that though a nation may change its religion, yet it always preferves fome ceremony of that which it abandons. This practice even occurs amongit fome modern nations. In 1716 a Chinefe Ambaffador having died at a small town fituated at the mouth of the river Irtifh, his oldest domestic threw a handful of his hair on the funeral pile of his mafter. The Mataram or King of Java, at the interment of his rebellious brother, which was conducted with great pomp, cut off his hair, and threw it upon the tomb. The Caraibs of the Antilles, male and female, cut off their hair in mourning. The women of Virginia throw their hair upon the tombs of their relations. The women of Brazil fhaye their heads when they lofe their relatives, and their mourning continues till their hair has grown again. The tribes of Florida cut their hair likewife upon the death of their relations; and when they lofe a Chief, they keep their heads fhaved for the space of two years. The Iroquois of both fexes teftified their grief by cutting off their hair. In this cafe, the women durft not go This custom is very ancient; and abroad till it had grown again. The MOURNING. cuftom cuftom is modified, and they now obtain permiffion of their relatives_to facrifice only a portion of their treffes .on the tombs of their husbands. It may be remarked in this place, that the women of Canada confider it as the greatest affront that can be offered them to cut off their hair entirely, or only in part. DESTRUCTION OF THE HABITATIONS OF THE DEAD. The ancient Mogols used to demolifh and destroy the tents of their Officers after their death. Now, when the Chieftain of the fe Tartars dies, they abandon their habitations for the whole time that the mourning continues. The Telengutians destroy the habita tions of the dead. The Jakutians were accustomed to quit for good the habitations in which any perfon had died. Thefe two nations, which are Tartar hordes, may have inherited this cuftom from the Mogols. The Perfians entertain an averfion for the houses in which their fathers expired. None of their nation would venture to live in a house of which the owner had been put to death by order of the Sovereign, for fear the fame fate thould at fome future period befal him. When a Laplander has expired, his neighbours hatten to destroy his hut. When the King of Whydab, in Africa, dies, his palace is pulled down, and another erected with the materials. The Charaibs are accustomed to demolish the habitation in which the father of a family has died, and to conftruct another on the fame fpot. In Peru it was the practice to wall up the apartment in which the Inca had died. Amongst the Pagans this averfion to the habitations of deceafed perfons arofe principally from the opinion, that in the other world the dead followed the fame occupation as they had in this, and would, confequently, ftand in need of the things they had left behind them thus their working tools are frequently interred with the remains of the deceafed. Without this precaution their fpirits would return to demand what was detained from them, and would torment their fucceffors. They fuppofe, that if the habitation were not deftroyed, the foul of the deceased would haunt it. They VOL. XLII, Nov. 1892. HUSBANDS WHO GO TO BED WHEN THEIR WIVES LIE IN. Strabo tells us, that in the north of Spain the husband was put to bed when his wife was delivered of a child: this cuftom is still prevalent in fome diftricts contiguous to the Pyrenees. Diodorus Siculus relates the fame thing of the Corficans; and Apollonius Rhodius fays, that the Tibarenes, a people inhabiting the thores of the Euxine Sea, had the fame cuítom. Marco Polo relates, that in the province of Arcladam, the women, after lying in, get up as foon as poffible, and the husband, going to bed in their place, nurfes the child for the fpace of forty days. This practice is also prevalent in Japan. Amongst the Charaibs of Guiana ie is likewife cuftomary for the husbands to take to their beds when their wives lie in. They receive vifits, and the fame attention as if they were actually indifpofed. This cuftom is rigorously obferved; obferved; for even when they are upon a hoftile expedition, as foon as any of them hears that his wife has brought him an increase of family, he haltens away to betake himself to bed. Labat tells us, that in these cafes the hufband obferves a faft of thirty days; but this ceremony only takes place for the first born, otherwife the Charaibs, who have frequently five or fix wives, would have more faits than the Capuchins. Fermin, in his defcription of Surinam, confirms the fact of their lying in bed, but is filent relative to the faft. The Dutch phyfician Pifo fays, that when the Brafil women feel the pangs of child-birth approaching, they go from home into the woods; that, with a ftone, they cut the navel- ftring of the new-born infant, and that after having boiled they eat it. At the fame time the husband betakes. himself to bed, and is fed with invigorating and nourishing things to recover his ftrength. Captain Woodes Rogers relates exactly the fame circumftance. x x ARROWS ARROWS A SYMBOL OF A PROCLAMATION. Thefe arrows were blunt, and had no feathers: they rather refembled fmall ticks than arrows. They were originally employed to predict future events. The name of the thing that was the fubject of inquiry was written on two different arrows. A third, without infcription, was enclofed with the two others in a covered veffel. One was drawn out, and the chance that caused one to be taken in preference to the others was explained in various ways. This method of di. vination was particularly cuftomary in the Northern kingdoms. "When an army enters the country," fays the Norwegian law, "or if an infurrection appear in any part of the kingdom, let a flick of meflage be fent." In Sweden, the orders for the affembly of the Magiftrates for the adminiAration of justice, and in general every meffage of the Government, was iflued in the fame manner. Probably they were then till ignorant of the art of writing, and these ticks ferved as a fymbol of the will of the Prince. The fame custom was observed amongst the Mogol Tartars in Siberia, as well as amongst the Oftiacks. Burlée fays, that the favages of Chili, when they wished to make war upon the Spaniards, fent an arrow, with a cord attached to it, to their different allies. When the Chief accepted the arrow, he entered into an engagement to fupport the war: and, to confirm his intention, he made a knot upon the cord, upon which it was tranfmitted to another Chief. The meffenger returned with his arrow decorated with knots. Le Gentil, who made a voyage to the fame country, fays, that the knots are of different colours, and indicate not only the plan of the projected war, but likewife the time and place of rendezvous, &c. TATTOOING. Herodotus tells us, that the figures traced on the fkin amongst certain nations were marks of nobility. Ammianus Marcellinus fays, that the Huns cut certain figures on the chins of their new born male children, with the intention, as they afferted, to prevent the beard from growing. This explanation is probably inaccurate; for the Huns, like their neighbours the Chinefe, had fcarcely any beards. Claudian informs us, that the Piets, natives of Albion, and the Gelones, a people of Greek origin inhabiting the shores of the Dnieper, marked their fkin with various figures with an iron inftrument. The Tongufes of Siberia are acquainted with this practice, according to Gmelin. In the island of Miangis, near Mindanao, the men and women cut upon the fkin certain irregular figures, into which they intro duce a coloured powder, and over all they rub themfelves with greafe. Dampier, who had examined this kind of painting on the skin of a Miangi Prince, fays, that it is very skilfully executed, and produces a pretty effect; that the leaves and flowers are extremely well imitated, and exhibit a proficiency that one would not have fufpected amongst thefe favages. Lady Montague informs us, that in the vicinity of Tunis the women adorn themfelves with certain figures which they trace on the neck and arms, and render indelible by burning a certain powder in them. The women living near the river Gambia, in their infancy, have figures pricked with a hot needle on their arms, breaft, and neck. These figures, which are indelible, resemble works in filk. In the kingdom of Whidah, the young girls destined for the fervice of the great Serpent undergo an operation, which confifts in fcratching the fkin with an iron inftru ment, and produces figures resembling fatin-work. In America, the fame practice is common amongst the favages of the ifthmus of Darien. Wafer fays, that they prick their skin with a thorn till the blood iffues out, and then rub themselves with a powder which leaves traces that cannot be effaced. This custom is found amongst the tribes of Florida, Virginia, Louisiana, and Canada. SCALPING. After battles, certain ancient nations were accustomed to cut the skin of the flain round the forehead and ears, and to take away the fcalp, which they fixed to the end of a pole, and carried in triumph. Herodotus has a paffage on this fubject, which is badly tranflated by Gronovius. The Scythians detached with a bone the flesh that adhered to the skin, and gave the latter the confiftence of leather, to render durable thefe monuments of their vic tories. |