uniformity or diversity of type among the native American
tribes.
Dr. Morton, whose splendid publication on American skulls
has obtained for him a high rank among those who have
devoted themselves to the study "of ethnology, /!« s a very
strenuous asserter of the ’ uniformity of physical * characters
among the native races of the Continent. In a late treatise
lie has thus expressed himself. We must, observe that he
.excepts from his-remark, in limine, the Esquimaux, who are^
nevertheless as genuine an American men as any tribe of the
.Continents-
“ It is an adage among travellers that he who has seen
one tribe of Indians has seen all, so muchdo the individ uals
of this race resemble each other, notwithstanding their immense
geographical distribution and those differences? idf
climate which embrace the extremes of ,heat and cold.u. The
half-clad Euegian, shrinking from his dreary winter, has the
same characteristic lineaments, though in an exaggerated
degree, as the Indians of the tropical plains; and these
again resemble the tribes which inhabit the region west of the
Rocky Mountains, those of the great'valley :of the Mississippi,
and those again which skirt the Eskimaux on the north. AH
possess alike the long, lank* black hair, the brown or cinnamon
coloured skin, the heavy brow, the dull and sleepy-
eye, the full and compressed lips, and the salient but dilated
-nose. These traits, moreover, are equally comoion to . the
savage and civilised nations, whether they inhabit the margins
of rivers and feed on fish, or rove the forest and subsist on
the spoils of the chase.
u It cannot be questioned that physical diversities do occur
equally singular and inexplicable, as seen in different shades
of colour, varying from a fair tint to a complexion almost
black; and this too under circumstances in which climate
can have little or no influence. -So also in reference to stature,
the differences are remarkable in entire tribes, which,
moreover, are geographically proximate to each other. These
facts, however, are mere exceptions to a general rule, and
do not alter the peculiar physiognomy of the Indian, which
is as undeviatingly characteristic- as that of the Negro; for
w h e t h e r ^ w f ö in the athletic* Gharib oi the stunted
Chayma, M/$be-dark ;@alifórnian or the fair Borroa, he is
■an-Indian-still,'and' cannot be mistaken for;a-beingsof any
otheri/aca-.
“ Th ^léaiffé'feonformi ty tofi-0igahi sation is no# less, obvious
in thC,^ifcë.o’Iogicai structurë *,ö# these5 <peo]$il|t Sèeh'in the
squared or rounded head, the flattened! or/vërtical/ occiput,
qtH’e tt^iï/cheèk^bb'he^ the’.- pohd'^pa^'iMaxVllfee^'ath^• large
quadrangular' orbits, and-' thê^^^réèfediiig'fférëliead^'^I huye
had ^opportuntty'^ó1 -^cbmpslre nearly four hundred .-erania
from tribes inhabiting almost every rlgièh of'both
Americas, and 'halfee been astonishefd^to find* how the prevee
ding characters, in* greaterfk)f^4^A^gree/tpeife(ie: them
^Notwithstanding this strongly exposed opinion, Dr. Mo^ori
h a s. ih/hi^^reatVwork remarked èiSÉSidera-ble dlih^drsiiiësHfd?
form in the-crania of Amërican'rabésp and hè: has- made the
first attempt tA'classify the^pl nations*' by their* varieties.»/ Hi-
say!&'—“ Aftei/Okamining a great 'number of skulls/; I find
that rthe <nation§Z'éfet «of the Allëghany MouhtaiÉt^OgéÊÉêr
with - ‘thé^ebgnate tribes, danve-n? héafd ■ mor^K^ngated than
anyhther Americans.' This remark a p p l^ ^ ^ è t^H y to the
great LenUf)# stock, the Iroquois, < and th e p p h ^ d k® ^ To
the west-ef the Mississippi we again meet with the elongaHÉP
hë&d? in the Mandans, Ricaras, Asslmibbins, and some other
tribes/ Yet-even in these mstaRe^ftha.; characteristic truncation
of the occiput is more or. lèss obvious/* while many
nations east of the Rocky Mountains have t h ©undèd&head
so characteristic of the race, as the Osages/Qèfcbes,- MissOüris,
Dacotas, and numerous others. The- same conformation is*
common in Florida; but some]Of these?nations are evidently
of the Tolteca family* as both their characters and traditions
testify. The heads ofithe- CharibS*;aS well of the1? Antilles
as pf Terra Firma, are also naturally‘founded ; and we trace
this character, as far as we have huff; opportunity for examination,
through the nations east -of the Andes/- thé Patago