CHAPTER II.
Hebrew Analogies with the Tribes of the North—Contrasted with the Natives of Mexican America—Circumcision—Scalping—Its great Antiquity—The Crucifixion not known to the Natives of the North—Their Traditional Knowledge of the Deluge—Their Practice of the Laws of Moses—The conclusive Proofs of the two Races—The Formation of a new Epochian Table for the History of Ancient America—The announcement of the Historical Theory, and the First Epoch.
The Hebrew analogies now claim investigation; and as Woman is first in the affections and in memory, she claims by right upon this, as upon all occasions, the natural precedence.
The Northern mother, after childbirth, is secluded for a given number of days, varying according to the sex of the new-born infant. By the law of Moses, the mother's purification was to last 40 days for a male, and 80 days for a female child. All other seclusions are as strict as when the wife becomes a mother. When a wife becomes a widow, and is childless, her husband's brother marries her,—these were essential laws of the Hebrew, and especially the latter,—that a name should not be lost in Israel.
As a mother she considers it a religious duty, that the child should receive its nourishment from the breast that gave it life: and such is the feeling in the performance of this maternal duty, that she often nurses her offspring until it attains three or four years of age. From this fact an important problem is solved, viz., the apparent tardiness in the ratio increase of the Aborigines of the North:—for it is the rule in Nature's female code (and should there be an exception, it only proves the rule), that while that affection continues from the fond practice of the mother, no other shall arise to destroy that which already exists: but, as that ceases and the first-born is put away, Nature jealous of her supremacy, again bestows upon the mother a second joy, and so continues in her undeviating course. There is, also, a direct physical analogy between the Northern mothers and those of ancient Israel; if there were not, the negative might be brought against this theory: we therefore take advantage of the affirmative. The only cause of Pharaoh's political action against the Hebrews was, that from the rapid ratio in which they multiplied, they would eventually rebel, and with, or without the assistance of any other nation entirely subdue Egypt. The ease of childbirth by the Hebrew mother is distinctly stated in Holy-Writ, in contrast to the dangerous sufferings of the Egyptian parent; from which fact may be gathered the cause of the gradual, but certain increase of the Israelites over the Egyptian population. The same peculiar facility of childbirth is one of the chief characteristics of the Northern female, for in the Rocky Mountains, while journeying in cavalcade, and being taken in travail, the mother will leave her companions alone, and within an hour, will remount her horse, and overtake her associates, with the new-born infant in her arms! The cause why the population of the Aborigines of the North is not in ratio with the ancient Hebrews, has already been alluded to, in reference to the mother's belief and practice of extended maternal duty and fondness.
If, as we believe, the great ancestresses of these Northern women were Leah and Rachel—the "tender-eyed," the "beautiful and well-favoured,"—then have their daughters on the Western continent lost no features of the mothers of Israel;—for they might hang their harps upon the willows of their fate, as emblems of Jerusalem's children in captivity, and feel no shame in comparison of sorrow, grace, or beauty!
The Northern Aborigines have a traditional knowledge of the Deluge and the Dove of peace, which to them under the name of the "medicine," or "mystery bird," is sacred from the arrow of the hunter. They have their Ark of Covenant, in which is deposited some mystery, seen only by the priests of the Tribe,—it is said to be a shell, and supposed to give out oracular sounds: this is in analogy to the Book of the Laws placed in the Ark of Covenant by Moses, preceding his death on Mount Nebo,—the oracular wisdom of which has guided civilization to this day. The ark is never suffered to touch the earth, but is always raised on a stand of wood or stone; it is invariably carried by a Tribe when they march to battle,—a similitude is here to Joshua at the siege of Jericho. When it is in their peaceful encampment, it is surrounded by twelve stones, indicative of the original number of the Tribes of their ancestors;—this is strictly in analogy with the twelve statues (probably rude blocks of stone) erected by Moses around the Altar of the Covenant to personify the twelve tribes of Israel. Joshua, also, after the passage of the Jordan, erected twelve stones in his encampment at Gilgal, and the same number in the river at the place of the passage. They select their "medicine men" (i. e. priests or prophets) from among a portion of the tribe not warriors; here is the custom of the Levites, or descendants of Aaron being in the sacred office of priesthood, for with the Israelites they were not to be taken from the ranks of the soldiery. These Aborigines "dwell in booths," as when "brought out of the land of Egypt," for they are still wanderers. [Lev. xxiii.] They offer a flesh, or burnt-offering from the chase, which is first cast into the flames, before even a starving family may eat. They have their corn and harvest feasts; also, one in observance of every new moon,—another in festivity of the first-fruits,—and the great feast in direct analogy with the Hebrew Passover, even to the blood being stained upon the posts and lintels, and the mingling of the most bitter herbs! Then their fastings and purifications are practised with the greatest severity. The breastplate, or ornament worn by their religious prophets, containing twelve shells, or stones of value, is in direct imitation of the ancient Pectoral worn by the Hebrew high-priest, and which contained twelve precious stones, inscribed with the names of all the twelve original tribes of Israel. They have their cities of refuge, or huts of safety, where the most deadly foe dare not enter for his victim. They never violate a female captive, and upon the Hebrew principle, that their blood shall not be contaminated by interunion;—this has been strictly followed in all their wars with the Europeans. They also reject the savage practice of civilization upon the lofty principle of manly virtue!
The "medicine-bag" or pouch is carried by every member of the Tribe;—it is suspended to a bead-belt, which crosses the breast by passing over the left shoulder, and hangs on the right side; it contains, as they say and believe, preservatives to keep them from sickness or defeat. These are essentially the phylacteries referred to by THE SAVIOUR, and previously condemned by Moses; for the word phylactery is derived from the Greek tongue, and denotes a preservative; and in the time of Moses they were worn by his people in great excess; and so by the Northern native. Moses checked the excessive use of the "preservatives" and changed the custom; for by his command the priesthood alone wore the phylactery, which was at last a frontlet of parchment for the forehead, upon which was written an extract from the laws, that "those that run might read."
Then the absence of all idols or symbolical devices, and the worship of the One God (i. e. Great Spirit); their never pronouncing the name, Jehovah, but in syllables, and those separated by long ceremonies, thus truly fulfilling the Hebrew law, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain." The name with them sounds as if written, Ye-hoh-vah, and is only pronounced by the Aaron of the tribe. In their hymns of rejoicing, the word Hal-le-lu-yah is distinctly uttered. To the foregone analogies is to be added the general and firm belief in the Immortality of the soul! But beyond all this as proof of their origin, is the practice of the great covenant between the Almighty Father and the Patriarch Abraham—viz., Circumcision! And it does not exist, as in parts of Egypt and the Asiatic nations, for the purpose of supposed health, (in which belief it was practised in ancient Egypt by both sexes,) but as a religious custom, handed down from time immemorial! The custom now is not general, but it does exist; and we must be understood as referring back at least two hundred years in our review, to the period of the Pilgrim Fathers, when the Northern Aborigines numbered fifteen millions,—now they scarcely number two and a half! All the customs, however, noticed, are practised at the present period by the uncontrolled Aboriginal. If all other evidences were not received, that of Circumcision, as a religious ceremony, must be viewed by the most sceptical, as direct proof of identity between the Northern Aborigines and the ancient Hebrews. The custom we have written is not general, it is only found in the more settled tribes; this even supports our belief, for in this very fact is traced again the precedent ordained by Moses; for circumcision was discontinued by the great Lawgiver for forty years, during his journeying with his followers through the wilderness; the custom was re-established by Joshua. May not this innovation by Moses in the covenanted custom be imitated by these descendants? Are they not still wanderers in the wilderness in the western, as their ancestors were in the eastern hemisphere? The affirmative has existed for ages, and it even now continues. They have not yet returned to Jerusalem!
One fact is of great importance in proof of their great antiquity—viz., they have no knowledge or tradition in the North of the Life or Crucifixion of Christ, yet they have a knowledge of the Deluge, and actually practise the laws of Moses. Again we must repeat, that we are writing of these Aborigines as they were at the time of European colonization.
The above singular fact enables us at once to place them in a chronological position. It must be after Moses but before The Savior; but another fact brings their circle of time still narrower—viz., they have no tradition of the destruction of the first Temple of Jerusalem. This event occurred 588 years before Christ, it must, therefore, be anterior to that national calamity, that they trace their origin. Of this, hereafter, when in the next volume the history of the Israelites will be given; but, even now, justice to this race compels us to offer a few words in their defence as a people, for being already sufficiently shewn that they are of the great Hebrew family, they may fall in the estimation of some readers upon religious principles. It has been shewn that they have no tradition of the Crucifixion, or of the desolation of the Temple. Is there no sentiment in the mind of the Christian reader as the first fact is unfolded, other than that of historical data? Upon a moment's thought it must be apparent that, the blood of Christ cannot be upon them or their children! Their ancestors never shouted in the streets of Jerusalem, "Crucify him! crucify him!" The Aborigines of the North are Israelites, and of the house of Jeroboam, not Jews, i. e., of the House of Judah; a distinction of all importance, as the pages of the subsequent volume will prove.
The custom of Scalping cannot be said with truth to be original with the Northern native: it has, however, been so asserted, as proof that they are more modern as a people than this theory would establish; but the declaration "melts into air, into thin air," from the fact, that both Herodotus and Polybius mention scalping as being practised among the most ancient nations of the world. The assertion, therefore, has only brought forward its refutation. Scalping was introduced originally by the ancients for the express purpose of counting and recording the number of the foe slain in battle: and especially was this custom practised by the Scythians: this is established upon the authority of the accurate Herodotus. For the same reason is the custom followed by the Aborigines of the North—viz., to number the slain of the enemy. Again, Scythia was the ancient name of the country now known by the modern name of Tartary. This is important, as will be shewn in the next volume, in tracing the encampments of the Israelites after their escape from captivity; for in the Scythian Tartary they will be found: and consequently the custom may have been derived from their own remote ancestors, who obtained it from the Scythians. The custom with both was (and in the North still is), only for a trophy of the dead, and, therefore the scalp is never taken from a living enemy. Polybius, however, has a Draconian record—viz., that upon the occasion of Gisco the Carthaginian being made prisoner, together with 700 of his soldiers, they were all scalped alive by the rebel mercenaries under Spondius. The ancients, also, wore the long scalp-locks as the flowing hair to their rude helmets and weapons: the natives of the North do the same as records of their personal victories. This subject has been dwelt upon, in order to prove its great antiquity.
We may here remark that the mutilation of the dead for the purpose of numbering, was nearly a general practice among all the ancients. The Scythian, it has been shewn, took the scalp and the hair-lock; but the Assyrian and the Egyptian had another method—viz., by the number of ears sent to the king or general. This is glanced at in Ezekiel xxiii. 25; but when imposition was practised by the soldiers of the latter nation (after a general rapine and massacre), by sending home the ears of their female victims in order to increase their reward upon the supposition that they had been taken from men,—an original custom of recording the slain warriors, was then introduced (to check the imposition) for proving the sex of the fallen. The latter proof of victory was a condition from David to Saul, for obtaining the daughter of the latter in marriage. [1 Samuel xviii. 25-27.] The Hebrew, therefore, followed the custom from the Egyptian, who practised it previous to David's victory over the Philistines, which was in the year of his marriage, 1063, B. C.; it is, therefore, probable that a knowledge of this Egyptian custom may have been obtained by the Hebrews during their bondage in that country—the Exodus took place 1491, B. C. The remote antiquity of these repulsive customs are, therefore, firmly established. Scalping is one of them, and is, and ever has been, practised in Northern America. While upon the subject of War, and its worst horror—viz., Rapine—it may be here mentioned again, and to the eternal honour of the Northern Aborigines, and as a stern reproof to the wars of civilization (?) that they have never been known to violate a female captive among their own race, upon the principle that it placed shame upon the warrior's glory. This noble manhood has also extended the same mercy to the white female prisoner, as to those of their own colour. Is there not the ancient Hebrew even in this? And is not their national abhorrence of interunion with any people but their own traceable in this custom? They, also, upon the same principle, will not marry or cohabit with the pale-face race, or with any not of their own blood. We write of the Aborigines as they were, and of the mass. There may be on the frontiers some solitary exceptions after their acquaintance with the Anglo-Saxon race; but oftener among the women than the men. This arises not from less virtue than in the opposite sex; but, and with shame be it written, from the seduction, treachery, and desertion by the European. Most truly might a chieftain reply to a missionary who endeavoured to convert a tribe. "Teach us? What? My son has been murdered—my daughter ravished by the white-man! Learn first yourselves to obey the mandates of humanity, and prove that we do not practise them; then come among us to preach, or teach, and we will receive you with open arms! When shall we meet again upon this condition? On Earth, white man, never!"
The marriage of the Virginian Aboriginal, Pochahontas, was, after her baptism in the Christian faith, and consequently cannot be brought to bear against the preceding remarks. Many other religious customs and ceremonies exist of a minor character, yet strictly in analogy with the race of Abraham; but enough has been brought forward in this volume to propose these (as we believe) unanswerable questions: "If they are not of the Lost Tribes of Israel, who are they?" "What nation of ancient history can claim and identify those customs and observances as their own, if not the Hebrew?"
Then in regard to the physique of the race, they possess the essential characteristics of the ancient Hebrew in regard to physiognomy—viz., the broad and elevated forehead, the acquiline nose, the high cheekbone, brilliant red countenance, and teeth pure as ivory; black hair, the dark and heavy eyebrow, the sunken but brilliant eye, like a diamond within a ring of pearl, and both deep-set beneath a brow of ebony. Their figures in youth (from their mother's care), are models for the Apollo; and should the Statue be lost (and with it all casts and engravings), it could be restored from a living archer; for the attitude of the Sun-God is daily assumed by them from the impulse of Nature, when they wing their arrows at the Pythons of the chase!
The reader must not imagine that our enthusiasm upon the subject has betrayed us into the language of poetic rhapsody; for we have the authority (apart from our own experience) of Benjamin West, who, when he first arrived at Rome to commence his studies, was regarded as "a Savage from the New World." In order to surprise him, the statue of Apollo was shewn to him with great ceremony by the Savans, who expected that he would be overwhelmed with wonder. His simple remark was, "Why, it is a model from a young North American Indian!" It was the highest compliment that could have been given to the grace and dignity of the statue.
The colour of the ancient Israelite must not be judged by that of the modern Jew—for various climates, local circumstances, and confined habitations, have given the latter a dark, heavy, swarthy countenance, and even in middle age they are bent in figure; but the ancient light-red tint may be but the original of the sunburnt features of the Aborigines, and they, from their forest life, reach at least three score years before old age compels them to see their shadows as they walk!
The words of "the good friend" William Penn, may be given as a peculiar and powerful authority. After his first and celebrated interview with the Northern natives, he wrote to England the following sentences in reference to them: "I found them with like countenances to the Hebrew race, and their children of so lively a resemblance to them," &c. At this, and no other time did the thought of their being of the Lost Tribes of Israel enter his imagination. The sentences, therefore, are of great importance, from the fact that they were not originally written by him to support any theory in reference to the Aborigines; but merely asserted in his letter from a strong impression of apparent truth, and which fact, to the Founder of Pennsylvania, was a subject of astonishment, and there it rested; for to him, were they Hebrew or Gentile, his kind and philanthropic heart, taught him to view them as a branch of the human family, and that to him was sufficient for forming a bond of amity! His memory is cherished by the Aborigines to this day—as "the good friend." The reader may remember the historical painting by West, of this celebrated interview, it is worthy of the subject represented.
The bold style and metaphorical character of their Oratory, is essentially Hebrew,—an attempt to illustrate their eloquence will be found in the historical tragedy of "Tecumseh."
Their undaunted and chivalric personal courage, is the very counterpart of that evinced upon the plains of Jericho, or in aftertimes before the walls of Jerusalem. Then their god-like love of perfect freedom,—the spirit of Jeroboam, did not die in the first rebellion and victory against tyranny,—it lives in his nation's descendants in the North; at invasions or encroachment, they rise as one man, to crush their oppressor, and which fact, every record from the Pilgrim Fathers to the present day, will testify. In all their battles (and their name is legion) they have disputed the ground, inch by inch, and even their women have fought and fallen in their ranks. Every chief was a Judas Maccabæus, or an Eleazer Savaran!
Now in every physical characteristic of the Northern, did the Mexican differ; they bore no analogy as being of the same race, either in feature, courage, endurance, or general religion. In Mexican America, Cortez, with only 500 Spanish soldiers, and those worn and dispirited, drove 50,000 Mexicans from the field of Otumba,—they fled like snow-flakes before the wind, when their standard was seized by a Spaniard; but, in the North, the fight was man to man, and no retreat—death or victory—Jerusalem or the grave! Every chieftain of the North, even upon a supposition of flight from a superior foe (either in number or prowess), may be imagined to have uttered the last words of Judas Maccabæus, when in his final battle he was opposed by twenty times his own force: "God forbid that I should do this thing, and flee from them; if our time be come, let us die manfully for our brethren, and not stain our honour!"
Some of the Mexican nations worshipped idols, and knew not God!—for they sacrificed human beings to propitiate their savage Deities; not so the noble Northerns, they worship The One God, who declared to the first Lawgiver, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me," and their only human sacrifice is the invader of their lands and birthright.
The only two analogies that existed between the North and Mexican America, and which might apparently destroy or prevent the proof of this theory, are, first, Circumcision; and second, the similitude of Language. In the North, circumcision, as we have shewn, is a religious custom only; in the Mexican territories, it was both optional and religious. This strange and apparent stumbling-block in the way of proving that they are of a different race, will be removed as we proceed; for so far from injuring the proofs of the theory, it absolutely supports them, as does also the analogy in language. These important points—viz., Circumcision and Language, will be met in their respective places, and in an original manner of application; for they form two of the most substantial evidences, and were the primitive causes for our belief in the subject contemplated by this work, and especially in reference to that portion having Christianity for its basis.
As an essential contrast between the Aborigines, is the fact that in the North they have (as already stated) no tradition of the Crucifixion, while in the other portion of the Continent (and for centuries before the rediscovery by Columbus) they had a perfect knowledge of every particular of the Life and Death of Christ. Again;—in this part of the Continent there are Stone architectural Ruins:—in the North there are none; they possess there but embankments, Marathonian mounds or tumuli. These undeniable and characteristic opposites in Northern and Mexican America, increased by the late discovery of the Ruined Cities in Guatamala and the adjacent provinces, together with fifteen years of personal observation in America; to which may be added a practical knowledge of the Fine Arts, enthusiasm in research, and mature reflection upon the entire subject, have authorized the formation of (as we believe) an Original Theory, concerning the History of the Aborigines of the two great divisions of the Western Hemisphere; and for the unfolding of the present volume, we state,
1. That they consist of TWO distinct races, or people. This will be, without doubt, admitted, from the facts in the previous pages.
2. That South America (nationally speaking) included what is at present called Central America; and, as a consequence, the Ancient Cities, now in Ruins, belonged to the same general Empire.
3. That South, or (as we have termed it in the preceding pages) Mexican America, was inhabited ANTERIOR to that of the North.
4. That the Aborigines of Mexican America, and the West India Islands, were the ancient Tyrians of Phœnicia, and that they landed on the Western Continent, from their native country, more than two thousand years ago! This is confirmed by Tradition, Analogies, History, and Prophecy!
Reasoning upon the causes that have led to the new Historical Theory, and the conclusions arising therefrom, a new Chronological or Epochian Table, as a necessity, is required for the History of the Western Hemisphere and its Inhabitants, at least to the time of Columbus. Not desiring, however, to anticipate any interest derivable from the investigation of this work, the progressive Epochs will be given in the volumes devoted to their illustration. The present volume contemplates the first Epoch only, and is announced in the following page, and the reader will do himself but justice (apart from the author) by not rejecting the startling Theory until (at least) the proofs and arguments have been received and analyzed. Upon which investigation the writer will submit with all humility to the decision of the public, and of their all-powerful champion—the Press.