s; that there are strong indications, if not
proofs, of a community of origin, or of very ancient relationship
among them; and that in surveying collectively the people of the
New World, we contemplate human nature under a peculiar aspect. On
comparing the American tribes together, we find reasons to believe
that they must have subsisted as a separate department of nations
from the earliest ages of the world. Hence, in attempting to trace
relations between them and the rest of mankind, we cannot expect to
discover proofs of their derivation from any particular tribe or
nation in the Old Continent. The era of their existence, as a
distinct and insulated race, must probably be dated as far back as
that time which separated into nations the inhabitants of the Old
World, and gave to each branch of the human family its primitive
language and individuality."

The points which are supposed to indicate this relationship of the
American aborigines _inter se_, and their distinction from the
inhabitants of our continents, are, 1st, the structure of their
language, in which--

"Striking analogies of grammatical construction have been
recognised, not only in the more perfect languages, as that of the
Incas, the Aymara, the Guarani, the Mexican, and the Cora, but also
in languages extremely rude. Idioms, the roots of which do not
resemble each other more than the roots of the Sclavonian and
Biscayan, have resemblances of internal mechanism similar to those
which are found in the Sanscrit, the Persian, the Greek, and the
German languages."

And, 2dly, their moral and social state, indicating a people which has
anciently possessed institutions of a highly civilized character, such
as, according to Dr Martius--

"A complicated form of government, regulated despotisms or
monarchies, privileged orders, hierarchical and sacerdotal
ordinances, systematic laws, the results of reflection, and a
settled purpose, connected with marriage and inheritance, and
family relationships, and other customs, which are strongly
contrasted with the simple and unreflective habits of rude and
uncivilized nations.

"The languages of these nations abound, as he says, with words
expressive of metaphysical views and abstract conceptions. Their
opinion respecting a future state, the nature and attributes o