nd romance freely concerning the Indians, without fear of
contradiction. Afterward, when the actual barbarism of the Indian tribes
in New England and other parts of the country had become generally
known, no one could describe any of these Indians as successful miners
and flax-growers, and assert gravely that they had such stores of copper
that "none of them" lacked great abundance of copper "chains, earrings,
collars," and the like, without being laughed at. Brereton's story must
be regarded as an invention designed to serve a special purpose, but not
warranted by any thing seen during the voyage he describes. Neither in
New England nor any where else in our part of the continent did the
early colonists find Indians who worked copper mines and had "great
store of copper." What Brereton says was not true of any Indians known
to our first colonists or to their successors. It corresponds to no
reality found in any part of our territory during the last two hundred
and fifty years. Therefore, to use his story in support of an absurd
hypothesis is not a satisfactory proceeding.

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.

It may be true that all the aboriginal peoples found inhabiting North
and South America, save the Esquimaux, belonged originally to the same
race. Some writers assume it to be true, although it seems strongly
improbable, not to say impossible. If they were all of the same race,
time and development, under different conditions of life, had divided
this race into at least two extremely unlike branches. The wild Indians
of North America were profoundly different from the ancient people of
Central America and Peru. The Pueblo or Village Indians of New Mexico
have scarcely any thing in common with the Apaches, Comanches, and
Sioux. Even the uncivilized Indians of South America are different from
those in the United States. Our wild Indians have more resemblance to
the nomadic Koraks and Chookchees found in Eastern Siberia, throughout
the region that extends to Behring's Strait, than to any people on this
continent. Those who have seen these Siberians, traveled with them, and
lived in their tents, have found the resemblance very striking; but I
infer from what they say that the Korak or Chookchee is superior to the
Indian. See Kennan's "Tent Life in Siberia."

Mr. Lewis H. Morgan finds evidence that the American aborigines had a
common origin in what he calls "their systems of consanguinity and
affinity." If it can be made to appea