spdken, some trace of it will continue to survive in the names of;
»individuals, of rivers, places, countries, &c. The names of Moséé',
Solomon, David, Lazarus, Isaac and Jacob, áre still found among the
Jews, everywhere, although the Hebrew language nás ceased fo. he
spoken for more xhan 2000 years. And- the appellatives Mississippi,
Missouri, Orinoko, Ontario, Oneida, Alabama, and a thousand other
Indian names, will live for ages after the [ last Red man is mingled
with the dust. They have no likeness to any, nomenclature in the
• Old "World.
In treating of American races, our prescribed limits do not permit
us to go into details respecting the infinitude of types which -compose
them. Our purpose at present is simply to Bring fójwárd guch^facts
as may be sufficient to establish their origin and antiquity. The
broad division of Dr. Morton, into two great families, whicjj contrast
in many points strongly with, each other, is sufficiently minute, viz.:
“ The Toltecan nations and the Barbarous tribes.” Thjs classmcafien
is somewhat arbitrary; but it is impossible, in our day, to establish
any but very wide boundary-lines. Here, as in thft Old World, wars,
migrations, amalgamations, and endless causes, h’avó, during several
thousand years, disturbed and confused Nature's original work; and
we must now deal with masses as we find them. In jfact, our main
object in alluding at all to the diversity of types among the, aborigines
of America, is to give another illustration of a position advanced elsewhere
in this volume. We have shown that the 'major divisions of
the earth, or its different zoological provinces, w§re populated by
groups;of races, bearing to each other certain family resemblances;
notwithstanding that, in reality, these races originated in nations, and
not in a single pair; thus forming proximate, but not identical'species.
The Mongols, the Caucasians, the Negroes, the American s,>
each constitute a group of this kind. In our chapters on the Cauca-,
. sian races, for example, we have shown how the Jews, Egyptians,
Hindoos, Pelasgians, Romans, Teutons, Celts, Iberians, &c., which
had all been classed under this common head, can he traced, as distinct
forms, beyond all human chronology. The same law appliesjo
the American races. Although every tribe has some characters that
nark it.as American, yet there are certain sharply-drawn distinctions,
imong some of these races, which cannot be explained by climatic
nfluences. The Toltecan, and Barbarous tribes, taken separately, en
%asse, afford a good illustration, for they differ essentially in their
aoral and physical characteristics. The most prominent distinction
etween these two families results from comparison of their cramio-
>gical developments. Dr. Morton, whose collection of human crania
the most complete in the world, bestowed unrivalled attention on
.American' r^ces, and* has given actual measurements of 338 Indian
skulls,,in-which the two great divisions are almost equally represented.#
1st.\The Toltecan Family — (comprising all tl^e semi-civilized nations'
of Mexico, Peril, W d Bogota, who, there is every reason M beheve, ,
were the builders of the great system of’mdunds, found throughout.
North America. Of 213 skulls, Mexican, and Peruvian, 201 belong
to the latter-^-each'having been obtained from the*oldest, burial-*
grounds and through‘the most reliable sources. On these heads,
Morton make® the following striking comment: —
»‘When we o&nsider the institutions of the old Peruvians, their comparatively advanced,
civilization,, their tpjnbs and tejnples,«nountain-roads and monolithic gateways, together
witti their AnSwledge of certain ernamental arts, it is surprising, to find that they possessed*
& brain 7^0 IdTgcT than' the Hottentot or Negi' JZollandsT, and far below the barbarous hordes
of their own.race.” [We have shown, in our remarks.on anatomical characters of races,
that the Hotentot has a brain on the average'l7 cubic inches less than the Teutonic-race
— the latter being 92, and the former 75 cubic inches.] . “ For, on.measuring 155 crania,
nearly all,-derived from tfre sepulchres just mentioned, they give but 75 cubic hiclies for
th l average bulk of brain, whila the Teutonic, or highest- developed white race, gives 92
cubic inches'. Of t fe whole number, one only attains the capacity of 101 cubic inches —
[the highest Teutonic in*Dr. Morton’s collection is 114 cubic inches] S a n d -th e minimum
sinks to 58; the smallest in the whole series of 641 measured crania of all nations. I It is
important to remark, also, that the sexes are nearly equally represented: viz., 80 men and
75 women.
The mean of twenty-®ne Mexican skulls is, seventy-nine, or fiye#
cubic inches above the Peruvian average ; but the authenticity of this
series is not so well made out as the other, and it may lie too small
for the establishment of a, very correct mean.
2d. The Barbarous Tribes. — The1 semi- civilized communities of
America seem at all times to have been hemmed in and pressed upon
by’ the more restless and warlike barbarous tribes, as they are at the
present day. "We now see the unwarlike Mexican constantly pillaged
by daring "Camanches and relentless Apaches; .,w|p,' since the introduction
of horses, have become most fearful marauders, scarcely
inferior to the Tartars or Bedouins of Asia.,
On this series, collected both from modern tribes and ancient tumuli
the most widely separated by time and space, Morton rem a rk s—
“ Of 211 crania derived from the various sources enumerated in this section, 161 have
been measured with the following results: the largest cranium gives 104 cubic inches —
the smallest 70; and the mean of^all is 84. There is a disparity, however, in the male
and female heads, for the former are 96 in number, and the latter only 65.
“ We have here the surprising fact, that the brain of the Indian, in his savage state, is
far larger than that of the old demi-qivilized Peruvian or ancient" Mexican. How are we
to explain this remarkable disparity between civilization and barbarism ? The .largest Peruvian
brain measures 101 cubic inches; and the untamed Shawnee rises to 104; and the
avera’ge difference between the Peruvian and the savage is nine cubic inches in favor of the
latter. Something maybe attributed to a primitive difference of stock; but more, perhaps,
to the contrasted activity of the two races.” [Here Dr. Morton might appear to endorse the