Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by ALEXANDER W. BRADFORD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York, PREFACE. ANTIQUARIAN Writings have so often been exposed to the charge of being replete with improbable conjectures, and conclusions which vanish at the touch of sober reason, that this interesting class of historical investigations seldom receives the perusal of the plain-thinking portion of the public. It was but just, therefore, to the subject of this work, to draw a line of distinction between facts, and the reasoning of the author upon those facts. For this reason, in the first portion of this volume, with but few exceptions, I have strictly confined myself to a description of the ancient American monuments, pursuing, in as faithful a manner as was consistent with proper brevity, the language of my authorities; and thus affording to the reader an opportunity to frame his own conclusions, and to test the accuracy of mine. Mr. Stephens' travels in Central America were published so recently, that I have been unable to use them with advantage; but they have been so extensively read, that this deficiency is of the less moment. In the second part of this work an attempt is made to solve some interesting problems of ancient aboriginal history. These involve topics of so diversified a character, are so extensive in their bearings, and are predicated upon so many and various proofs, that in many cases it was found incompatible with my proposed limits, to do more than illustrate the several propositions by a portion of the testimonies. Many of them may therefore be considered as brief statements necessary to the chain of argument, and as capable of further proof. As to the conclusions which have been attained no one can be more alive than myself to the fact, that in many cases they are opposed to the usually received opinions upon these subjects. In relation to the question of origin, no predisposition in favor of the result to which I have arrived, has influenced the investigation; for, biased at the outset strongly towards the theory of a migration by Behring's straits, it was only at a later stage of the examination, and after a long struggle, that I was forced to abandon this idea ;-with what reason others must determine. After all, the inquiry, by what route the aborigines reached our shores, is one of minor importance. It is a fact upon which little depends; in view of the extensive diffusion of the Red race over the eastern hemisphere, it cannot be of much consequence, whether they came across the Atlantic, or the southern or northern Pacific. In either case, by other proofs their antiquity is not less certain; the primitive character of their institutions and civilization is not the less demonstrable; and at the most, it could affect only some problems connected with their internal history. Few can be more sensible than myself of the imperfections of this work, or feel more its defects in point of research. Having had no opportunity of consulting several scarce authorities, I am aware that more light might have been thrown upon many of the points it discusses. My chief consolation has been, that even the humblest contributions to so interesting and noble a theme would be received with kindness. Just criticism, however, is essential to the elucidation of truth, and is to be deprecated least of all upon topics still deeply enenveloped in mystery and doubt. |