Such are the facts which lend their interest to the early epoch of our history. They invite the deepest study. Every season brings to our notice some new feature, in its antiquities, which acts as a stimulus to thought and inquiry. It is evident that there is more aliment for study and scrutiny in its obscure periods, than has heretofore been supposed. Vestiges of art are found, which speak of elder and higher states of civilization, than any known to the nomadic or hunter states. And the great activity which marks the present state of antiquarian and philological inquiry, in the leading nations of Europe, adds deeply to our means and inducements to search out the American branch of the subject. Man, as he views these results, gathers new hopes of his ability to trace the wandering footsteps of early nations over the globe. There is a hope of obtaining the ultimate principles of languages and national affinities. Already science and exact investigation have accomplished the most auspicious and valuable results. The spirit of research has enabled us to unlock many secrets, which have remained sealed up for centuries. History has gleaned largely from the spirit of criticism; Ethnology has already reared a permanent monument to her own intellectual labors, and promises in its results, to unravel the intricate thread of ancient migration, and to untie the gordian knot of nations. Shall we not follow in this path? Shall we not emulate the labors of a Belzoni, a Humboldt, and a Robinson?

Footnotes

  ¹ Forster.

  ² MSS. of the Am. Ethn. Society. Vide Catalogue, Vol. I.

  ³ Trans. Am. Ethn. Society. Vol. I.

  ⁴ Forster.

  ⁵ Vide Stoddart's Louisiana.

  ⁶ Vide Notes on the Iroquois.

  ⁷ Vide Gallatin's paper—Trans. Am. Eth. Society, vol. I.

  ⁸ Notes on the Iroquois.

  ⁹ Such are the traditions of the Aztecs and of the Athapascas. Nearly every Aonic tribe, on the contrary, affirm that their ancestors came out of the ground.

¹⁰ As to the market day or week of five days, Sir Wm. Jones and Sir Stamford Raffles, tell us that the same period, existed, for the same purpose, in India. In the symbols for days, we find four to correspond exactly with the zodiacal signs of India, eight with those of Thibet, six with those of Siam and Japan, and others with those of the Chinese and Moguls.

¹¹ With respect to intercalations, various periods have been taken by ancient nations. And while we take the shortest possible one, of four years; and the Aztecs took fifty two, the Chinese took sixty, and the Persians one hundred and twenty.

¹² The central mound of this group has been cut through since the date of my paper before the Ethnological Society, and proved to be artificial.

¹³ Arkansas paper.

¹⁴ A mountain in New Hampshire, seen from the sea.

¹⁵ The Indian name of the river La Plate.

¹⁶ Genesis, 9. 27.