Diary in America, Series Two

by Frederick Marryat

Du Pratz, speaking of the traditions of the Natches tribe, relates that in answer to the question, “Whence come you?” their reply was, “All that we know is that our fathers, to come hither, followed the sun, and came from the place where he rises. They were long in their journey; they were nearly perishing; and were brought to this wilderness of the sun setting without seeking it.” Souard says of the Indians of Surinam, on the authority of Nasci, a learned Jew residing there, that the dialect of those Indians common in Guinana is soft, agreeable, and regular, and their substantives are Hebrew. “Their language, in the roots, idioms, and particular construction, has the genius of the Hebrew language, as their orations have the bold, laconic, and figurative style of the Hebrew prophets.”

The Reverend Mr Chapman says of the Osages, “it is their universal practice to salute the dawn of every morning with their devotion.” A custom always prevailing among pious Jews.

Malvenda and Acosta both affirm, that the natives had a tradition of a jubilee, according to the jubilee of Israel.

Dr Beatty, in speaking of the festival of the first-fruits by the Indians west of the Ohio, says, “at this ceremony twelve of their old men divide a deer into twelve parts, and these men hold up the venison and fruits with their faces to the east, acknowledging the bounty of God to them. A singular and close imitation of the ceremonies and sacrifices of the temple.” The doctor further says, “they have another feast which looks like the Passover.”

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in his tour to the north-west coast, says, that “the Chepewyan Indians have a tradition among them, that they originally came from another country, inhabited by very wicked people, and had traversed a great lake which was in one place narrow and shallow, and full of islands, where they had suffered great misery; and a further tradition has it that nine parts of their nation out of ten passed over the river. The Mexicans affirm, that seven tribes or houses passed from the east to the wilderness.”

Beltrami says, that the skeletons of the mammoths found in Kentucky and Missouri, and other parts of America, have been ascertained to resemble precisely those which have been found in Siberia and the eastern part of Asia, showing the facility of communication between the two coasts. And here it may be well to state a fact, which is strongly corroborative of the view we have taken, not only of the possibility of passing from one continent to the other, but of the actual and probably constant communication between them. Charlevoix, says, he knew a Catholic priest, called Father Grilion, in Canada, who was recalled to Paris after his mission had been ended, and who was subsequently appointed to a similar mission in China. One day in Tartary, he suddenly encountered a Huron woman with whom he had been well acquainted in Canada, and who informed him that she had been captured, and passed from nation to nation, until she reached the north-west coast, when she crossed into Tartary.

Since delivering the present lecture, I have received a letter from Mr Catlin, the celebrated painter, who for the last five years has been residing among the Indians. Mr Catlin says:

“The first thing that strikes the traveller in an Indian country as evidence of their being of Jewish origin, (and it is certainly a very forcible one,) is the striking resemblance which they generally bear in contour, and expression of head, to those people. In their modes and customs, there are many striking resemblances, and perhaps as proof, they go much further than mere personal resemblance. Amongst those customs, I shall mention several that have attracted my attention, though probably they have never before been used for the same purpose; and others I may name, which are familiar to you, and which it may not be amiss to mention, as I have seen them practised while in their country.

“The universal custom among them of burying their dead with feet to the east, I could conceive to have no other meaning or object than a journey to the east after death—like the Jews who expected to travel under ground after death to the land of Canaan. On inquiry, I found that though they were all going towards the ‘setting sun,’ during their life-times, they expected to travel to the east after death.

“Amongst the tribes, the women are not allowed to enter the medicine lodge; as they were not allowed in Judea to enter the court of Israel. Like the Jewish custom also, they are not allowed to mingle in worship with the men; and at meals, are always separated.