ascertained exception." Mr. Gallatin, who has bestowed great learning and research upon this subject, confirms these opinions, and considers it proved, that all the languages, not only of our own Indians, but of the natives from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn, have, as far as they have been examined, a distinct character common to all, which seems to establish, "beyond a doubt, that common origin, which could not be discovered in vocabularies so entirely different from each other;" and he adds the important observation, that "whilst the unity of structure and of grammatical forms proves a common origin, it may be inferred from this, combined with the great diversity and entire difference in the words of the several languages of America, that this continent received its first inhabitants at a very remcte period, probably not much posterior to that of the dispersion of mankind."* 3. Religion. Broken and scattered as were the natives, into so many distinct communities, we are astonished to find the great congruity which exists between the religious belief and ideas of all the tribes, inclusive even of the Mexicans and Peruvians. Through the whole extent of both continents this uniformity is of so decisive a character, as to demonstrate a single primitive source. It will be sufficient at present to state, that with almost all of the aborigines, there is proof of the existence of a belief in a Supreme Being; of the former worship of the Sun; of an extensive polytheism, based apparently, in its origin, upon the doctrine of divine emanations; of a belief in the immortality of the soul and its future state, and in the transmigration of spirits: that, with most of the tribes, there were jugglers, who * Archæologia Am., vol. ii. pp. 6, 164. Vide also Flint's Recollections, p. 137; Molina, vol. ii. p. 285, etc. acted in the triple capacity of physicians, prophets, and sorcerers, or priests; and that sacred ablutions, fasts, and expiatory self-punishments and sacrifices, were of nearly equal prevalence in both continents. These religious ideas are of a primitive. type, and are therefore worthy of great consideration; for, while they prove the original unity of the native race, they indicate also the very early period of its separation and dispersion,-a conclusion just drawn from a comparison of the languages. 4. Hieroglyphic Painting. The art of communicating ideas, and of preserving the memory of events, by artificial signs, was practised by the aborigines in two methods: the first consisted in the use of pictorial delineations, accompanied with symbols of a hieroglyphical character; and the second, in the employment of knotted cords, and analogous means. The curious and complicated system of picture-writing possessed by the Mexicans was not only known to many nations in their vicinity, but also to at least one of the South American tribes, while it is conceived that traces of its ancient use may be observed among others. "The people of Quito," remarks Mrs. Graham, "pride themselves in retaining that excellence in painting, which distinguished their predecessors of the time of Pizarro."* And Frezier informs us that in his day Cuzco was famous for the vast number of pictures made there by the Indians, and that he saw in the same place, portraits of the twelve Incas, one of which he copied.† Herrera speaks of the paintings of animals, which adorned the great temple of Pachacamac, and Garcia has the following singular passage: "At the beginning of the conquest, the Indians of Peru made their confessions by paintings and characters, which indicated the ten Frezier's Voyage, pp. 175, 271. * Travels in Chile, p. 178. commandments, and the sins committed against them."* The latter authority Humboldt seems to consider as sufficient to support the conclusion, that the Peruvians were not wholly unacquainted with the method of picture-writing, an opinion which the other facts just cited render more probable. The same author has succeeded in establishing one well authenticated instance of the use of hieroglyphical paintings in South America. Among the Panoes, on the banks of the Ucayale, Narcissus Gilbar found books or bundles of paintings. They contained figures of men and animals, and hieroglyphic characters, delineated in brilliant colors. The tradition was, that they were transmitted to them by their fathers, and represented their ancient travels and wars, and," hidden things which no stranger ought to know." The sculptured hieroglyphic figures, in the caves near the mouth of the Arauca, and in other places, would suggest the wider extension of this art, in ancient times; and it is somewhat curious that the Peruvian word, quellccani, to write, signifies to paint, and the Chileno word chilcan has the same double signification.§ In North America the ancient figures and inscriptions, and particularly those observed by Bishop Madison in Virginia, appear to belong to the same class of symbolic representations. Charlevoix speaks of certain cloths used in the funeral ceremonies of the Natchez, upon which "they had painted various figures," probably emblematic.|| As appears from Miguel Venegas, some insular tribes near the coast of California had in their sacred places, paintings which seem to have * Origen de los Indios, p. 91, in Humb. † Res., vol. i. p. 174; vol. ii. p. 221. Acosta, l. 5, c. 8, in ibid. Vocabulario Qquichua o del Inca, Lima, 1608. p. 199. § Molina, vol. ii. p. 25. Voyage, vol. ii. p. 197. been symbolical;* and on the north-west coast of America the natives display a decided taste for hieroglyphical delineations.† Indeed many many of the savage tribes, but more especially those of North America, employ conventional signs and paintings as a substitute for letters, and not more rudely executed than might be anticipated of a people, long degraded from a state of higher cultivation. Dobrizhoffer relates that the Abipones, an equestrian people of Paraguay, had certain signs and marks taught them by their ancestors, in the nature of a hieroglyphic language, which they cut upon trees; and that the Guaranies are distinguished for their natural talent for painting. The Arikaras represent their battles, by paintings upon buffalo skins, and they denote their journeys by foot-tracks, a method precisely similar to the one used by the Mexicans for that purpose.§ It is an ordinary Indian custom when they are engaged in hunting or hostile expeditions, to leave at certain points, marks and pictures upon trees, so as to convey an idea of their number, the direction they have taken, the result of the adventure, or any incidents that may have occurred.|| Mr. Pike describes one of these tokens, at a deserted encampment of the Chippeways, which imparted the information, that they had marched a party of fifty warriors, against the Sioux, and had killed four men and four women, which was represented by images carved out of pine or cedar. Indeed the Indians of this stock, the Algonquin, appear to have possessed a method of delineation by Hist. Calif. vol. ii. p. 276. Voyage de Marchand, in Pol. Ess., vol. i. p. 100. An account of the Abipones, vol. ii. pp. 62, 63, 271. § Brackenridge's Journal, p. 193. Pike's Expedition, p. 56. || Ibid. p. 156. * which they aided the memory in retaining and recalling ideas, with considerable accuracy. They have traditionary songs which are used at their feasts, for medicine hunting, and upon other occasions, some of which contain internal evidence of their own antiquity. These are preserved, and, as it were, recorded, by rude pictures carved on a flat piece of wood," which serve to suggest to the minds of those who have learned the songs, the ideas and their order of succession; the words are not variable, but a man must be taught them; otherwise, though from an inspection of the figure he might comprehend the idea, he would not know what to sing." These pictures, as appears from the illustrations given of them, seem to belong to the same species of pictorial writing as the Mexican, though less complex and finished: we perceive the traces of a system of arbitrary symbols in relation to numbers, and to one of the elements, while another of the elements, water, is represented by the same natural figure as was used in Mexico,-undulating lines. It was probably from a study of these rude picture writings, that Mr. Schoolcraft formed so high an idea of the aboriginal method of delineation. The Algic nations, he says, found a substitute for letters, in a system of hieroglyphics of a general character, but quite exact in their mode of application and absolutely fixed in their elements; they employed the same hieroglyphic signs to express names and events, which bore quite a resemblance to the Egyptian, expressed a series of whole images without adjuncts, and stood as general memoranda to help the recollection.‡ Ac * James, in Tanner's Narrative, p. 338. + Ibid. p. 341. |