Philological Proofs of the Original Unity and Recent Origin of the Human Race

by Arthur James Johnes

Among those tribes which have been placed in contact with the Whites, individuals, generally Chiefs, have acquired all the advantages of a European education, to which in most of these instances are united, dignified and gentlemanlike feelings and manners, qualities which seem to belong to the native American character. Some tribes have been nearly extipated [pg xlvii] by the use of fermented liquors. But some sections of the Indian population have been converted to Christianity, and adopted the habit of total abstinence; others have become industrious cultivators of the soil. Where this race has rejected the benefits of civilization, it seems almost invariably to have arisen from the prejudices naturally excited in their minds by the vices of the worst part of the white population, and the calamities which they have caused by the introduction of ardent spirits! Even those excellent men who have devoted their lives to the religious instruction of the Indians, and by whose efforts it may be inferred that some Tribes have been saved from extinction, have too often found in these prejudices, an obstacle which might perhaps be removed were the missionaries generally to commence by offering to teach some of the simplest arts of civilized life—information of which the benefits would be immediately appreciated—as a means of paving the way for obtaining that confidence which, as religious instructors, they require.

The life of constant war and peril to which the Indians are exposed is incompatible with actual Social advancement. But proofs of a spontaneous tendency to civilization may be gleaned, as I conceive, from the grace and tastefulness of their dresses—the beautiful lodges many of the Tribes build—and other indications, &c. But of this truth, a still more decisive example occurs, as I venture to think, in the account given by Mr. Catlin of a very interesting tribe, the Mandans, whom, from the evidence of language already noticed and other considerations, he has conjectured to be descendants of Madoc's Colony, and whose personal character and appearance he thus describes:

“The Mandans are certainly a very interesting and pleasing people in their personal appearance and manners; differing in many respects, both in looks and customs, from all other tribes which I have ever seen. They are not a warlike [pg xlviii] people, for they seldom, if ever, carry war into their enemies' country; but when invaded, show their valour and courage to be equal to that of any people on earth. Being a small tribe, and unable to contend on the wide prairies with the Sioux and other roaming tribes, who are ten times more numerous, they have very judiciously located themselves in a permanent village, which is strongly fortified, and ensures their preservation. By this means they have advanced further in the arts of manufacture, and have supplied their lodges more abundantly with the comforts and even luxuries of life than any Indian nation I know of. The consequence of this is that the tribe have taken many steps ahead of other tribes in manners and refinements (if I may be allowed to use the word refinement to Indian life); and are, therefore, familiarly (and correctly) denominated by the Traders and others, who have been amongst them, the ‘polite and friendly Mandans.’

“There is certainly great justice in the remark, and so forcibly have I been struck with the peculiar ease and elegance of this people, together with the diversity of complexions, the various colours of their hair and eyes, the singularity of their language, and their peculiar and unaccountable customs, that I am fully convinced that they have sprung from some other origin than that of the other North American tribes, or that they are an amalgam of natives with some civilized race.

“Here arises a question of very great interest and importance for discussion; and after further familiarity with their character, customs, and traditions, if I forget not, I will eventually give it further consideration. Suffice it then for the present, that their personal appearance alone, independent of their modes and customs, pronounces them at once as more or less than savage.

“A stranger in the Mandan village is first struck with the [pg xlix] different shades of complexion and colours of hair which he sees in a crowd, and is at once almost disposed to exclaim that ‘these are not Indians!’

“There are a great many of these people whose complexions appear as light as half-breeds; and amongst the women particularly, there are many whose skins are almost white, with the most pleasing symmetry and proportion of features; with hazel, with gray, and with blue eyes; with mildness and sweetness of expression, and excessive modesty of demeanour, which render them exceedingly pleasing and beautiful!”

It has been shown in another part of this work that the language of the Mandans does not prove them to be connected with the Welsh, and that their dialect is of the same character as that of other Indian tribes. Further, did space allow, I might produce some evidence that the Mandans are allied in blood to their hereditary foes, the fierce and warlike Sioux! The phenomena noticed by Mr. Catlin must be explained therefore by the aid of different principles than those to which he has referred.[20]

I conceive then that these various peculiarities of colour, personal appearance, and of manners and social habits, which he noticed amongst the Mandans, may all be viewed as effects of one simple cause, viz. their “judiciously selected location” in “a permanent village,” involving protection from exposure to the seasons on the one hand, and the abandonment of nomade habits on the other. To the former, the changes of complexion—to the latter, the social advances—of the Mandan Tribe may be ascribed!

There are numerous other data in Mr. Catlin's work which seem to afford illustrations of the mutability of Human Physiology. The Indians who live among the Whites he describes as “Pale” Red. May not the change implied in [pg l] this expression be referred to an abandonment of their original life of activity and exposure on the wild Prairie, quite as much as to misfortune or a mixture of European blood? The variety of Physiognomy among the different tribes, as shown by his admirable portraits of Chiefs, &c., is very extraordinary. Some of these countenances are ugly and unprepossessing; but in others the finest European features occur! The traits exhibited by these portraits are contrary to the inference which Humboldt's description might suggest, viz., that all the N. A. Indian Tribes resemble the Mongol Race in features as well as in the colour of their skin and the absence of beard.