Man, Past and Present Part 37

[723] _A Boat Journey to Inari_, Viking Club, Feb. 1, 1895.

[724] _The Great Frozen Land_, 1895, p. 61.

[725] _The Great Frozen Land_, p. 84.

[726] Cf. M. A. Czaplicka, _Aboriginal Siberia_, 1914, pp. 162, 289 _n._

[727] _Notes sur les Votiaks payens des Gouvernements de Kazan et Viatka_, Paris, 1897. They are still numerous, especially in Viatka, where they numbered 240,000 in 1897.

[728] See especially Schafarik's cla.s.sical work _Slavische Alterthumer_, II. p. 159 sq. and V. de Saint-Martin, _etudes de Geographie Ancienne et d'Ethnographie asiatique_, II. p. 10 sq., also the still indispensable Gibbon, Ch. XLII., etc.

[729] _Decline and Fall_, XLII.

[730] Rubruquis (thirteenth century): "We came to the Etil, a very large and deep river four times wider than the Seine, flowing from 'Great Bulgaria,' which lies to the north." Farther on he adds: "It is from this Great Bulgaria that issued those Bulgarians who are beyond the Danube, on the Constantinople side" (quoted by V. de Saint-Martin).

[731] Evidently much nearer to the Ural Mountains, for Jean du Plan Carpin says this "Great Hungary was the land of _Bascart_," that is, _Bashkir_, a large Finno-Turki people, who still occupy a considerable territory in the Orenburg Government about the southern slopes of the Urals.

[732] With them were a.s.sociated many of the surviving fugitive On-Uigurs (Gibbon's "Ogors or Varchonites"), whence the report that they were not true Avars. But the Turki genealogies would appear to admit their claim to the name, and in any case the Uigurs and Avars of those times cannot now be ethnically distinguished. _Kandish_, one of their envoys to Justinian, is clearly a Turki name, and _Varchonites_ seems to point to the Warkhon (Orkhon), seat in successive ages of the eastern Turks, the Uigurs, and the true Mongols.

[733] _Ethnology_, p. 309.

[734] Vambery, perhaps the best authority on this point, holds that in its structure Magyar leans more to the Finno-Ugric, and in its vocabulary to the Turki branch of the Ural-Altaic linguistic family. He attributes the effacement of the physical type partly to the effects of the environment, partly to the continuous interminglings of the Ugric, Turki, Slav, and Germanic peoples in Pannonia ("Ueber den Ursprung der Magyaren," in _Mitt. d. K. K. Geograph. Ges._, Vienna, 1897, XL. Nos. 3 and 4).

[735] T. Peisker, "The Asiatic Background," _Cambridge Medieval History_, Vol. I. 1911, p. 356.

[736] "Das Volk steht und fallt mit der Sprache" (_Urbewohner Brasiliens_, 1897, p. 14).

CHAPTER X

THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

American Origins--Fossil Man in America--The Lagoa-Santa Race--Physical Type in North America--Cranial Deformation--The Toltecs--Type of N.W. Coast Indians--Date of Migrations--Evidence from Linguistics--Stock Languages--Culture--Cla.s.sification-- By Linguistics--Ethnic Movements--Archaeological Cla.s.sification--Cultural Cla.s.sification--_Eskimo Area_--Material Culture--Origin and Affinities--Physical Type--Social Life--_Mackenzie Area_--The Dene--Material Culture--Physical Type--Social Life--_North Pacific Coast Area_--Material Culture--Physical Type--Social Life--_Plateau Area_--Material Culture--Interior Salish--Social Organisation--_Californian Area_--Material Culture--Social Life--_Plains Area_--Material Culture--Dakota--Religion--The Sun Dance--p.a.w.nee--Blackfeet-- Arapaho--Cheyenne--_Eastern Woodland Area_--Material Culture-- Central Group--Eastern Group--Iroquoian Tribes: Ojibway-- Religion--Iroquois--_South-eastern Area_--Material Culture-- Creeks--Yuchi--Mound-Builders--_South-western Area_--Material Culture--Transitional or Intermediate Tribes--Pueblos--Cliff Dwellings--Religion--Physical Type--Social Life.

CONSPECTUS.

#Present Range.# _N. W. Pacific Coastlands; the sh.o.r.es of the Arctic Ocean, Labrador, and Greenland; the unsettled parts of Alaska and the Dominion; Reservations and Agencies in the Dominion and the United States; parts of Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico; most of Central and South America with Fuegia either wild and full-blood, or semi-civilised half-breeds._

#Hair#, _black, lank, coa.r.s.e, often very long, nearly round in transverse section; very scanty on face and practically absent on body_; #Colour#, _differs, according to localities, front dusky yellowish white to that of solid chocolate, but the prevailing colour is brown_; #Skull#, _generally mesaticephalous (79), but with wide range from 65 (some Eskimo) to 89 or 90 (some British Columbians, Peruvians); the_ #os Incae# _more frequently present than amongst other races, but the_ #os linguae# _(hyoid bone) often imperfectly developed_; #Jaws#, _ma.s.sive, but moderately projecting_; #Cheek-bone#, _as a rule rather prominent laterally, and also high_; #Nose#, _generally large, straight or even aquiline, and mesorrhine_; #Eyes#, _nearly always dark brown, with a yellowish conjunctiva, and the eye-slits show a prevailing tendency to a slight upward slant_; #Stature#, _usually above the medium 1.728 m. (5 ft. 8 or 10 in.), but variable--under 1.677 m. (5 ft. 6 in.) on the western plateaux (Peruvians, etc.), also in Fuegia and Alaska; 1.829 m.

(6 ft.) and upwards in Patagonia (Tehuelches), Central Brazil (Bororos) and Prairie (Algonquians, Iroquoians); the relative proportions of the two elements of the arms and of the legs (radio-humeral and tibio-femoral indices) are intermediate between those of whites and negroes_.

#Temperament#, _moody, reserved, and wary; outwardly impa.s.sive and capable of enduring extreme physical pain; considerate towards each other, kind and gentle towards their women and children, but not in a demonstrative manner; keen sense of justice, hence easily offended, but also easily pacified. The outward show of dignity and a lofty air a.s.sumed by many seems due more to vanity or ostentation than to a feeling of true pride. Mental capacity considerable, much higher than the Negro, but on the whole inferior to the Mongol_.

#Speech#, _exclusively polysynthetic, a type unknown elsewhere; is not a primitive condition, but a highly specialised form of agglutination, in which all the terms of the sentence tend to coalesce in a single polysyllabic word; stock languages very numerous, perhaps more so than all the stock languages of all the other orders of speech in the rest of the world_.

#Religion#, _various grades of spirit and nature worship, corresponding to the various cultural grades; a crude form of shamanism prevalent amongst most of the North American aborigines, polytheism with sacrifice and priestcraft amongst the cultured peoples (Aztecs, Mayas, etc.); the monotheistic concept nowhere clearly evolved; belief in a natural after-life very prevalent, if not universal_.

#Culture#, _highly diversified, ranging from the lowest stages of savagery through various degrees of barbarism to the advanced social state of the more or less civilised Mayas, Aztecs, Chibchas, Yungas, Quichuas, and Aymaras; amongst these pottery, weaving, metal-work, agriculture, and especially architecture fairly well developed; letters less so, although the Maya script seems to have reached the true phonetic state; navigation and science rudimentary or absent; savagery generally far more prevalent and intense in South than in North America, but the tribal state almost everywhere persistent_.

I. _Eskimo._

II. _Mackenzie Area._ Dene tribes.

1 Yellow Knives, 2 Dog Rib, 3 Hares, 4 Slavey, 5 Chipewyan, 6 Beaver, 7 Nahane, 8 Sekani, 9 Babine, 10 Carrier, 11 Loucheux, 12 Ahtena, 13 Khotana.

III. _North Pacific Area._ 14 Tlingit, 15 Haida, 16 Kwakiutl, 17 Bellacoola, 18 Coast Salish, 19 Nootka, 20 Chinook, 21 Kalapooian.

IV. _Plateau Area._ 22 Shahapts or Nez Perces, 23 Shoshoni, 24 Interior Salish, Thompson, 25 Lillooet, 26 Shushwap.

V. _Californian Area._ 27 Wintun, 28 Pomo, 29 Miwok, 30 Yokut.

VI. _Plains Area._ 31 a.s.siniboin, 32 Arapaho, 33 Siksika or Blackfoot, 34 Blood, 35 Piegan, 36 Crow, 37 Cheyenne, 38 Comanche, 39 Gros Ventre, 40 Kiowa, 41 Sarsi, 42 Teton-Dakota (Sioux), 43 Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan, 44 Iowa, 45 Missouri, 46 Omaha, 47 Osage, 48 Oto, 49 p.a.w.nee, 50 Ponca, 51 Santee-Dakota (Sioux), 52 Yankton-Dakota (Sioux), 53 Wichita, 54 Wind River Shoshoni, 55 Plains-Ojibway, 56 Plains-Cree.

VII. _Eastern Woodland Area._ 57 Ojibway, 58 Saulteaux, 59 Wood Cree, 60 Montagnais, 61 Naskapi, 62 Huron, 63 Wyandot, 64 Erie, 65 Susquehanna, 66 Iroquois, 67 Algonquin, 68 Ottawa, 69 Menomini, 70 Sauk and Fox, 71 Potawatomi, 72 Peoria, 73 Illinois, 74 Kickapoo, 75 Miami, 76 Abnaki, 77 Micmac.

VIII. _South-eastern Area._ 78 Shawnee, 79 Creek, 80 Chickasaw, 81 Choctaw, 82 Seminole, 83 Cherokee, 84 Tuscarora, 85 Yuchi, 86 Powhatan, 87 Tunican, 88 Natchez.

IX. _South-western Area._ Pueblo tribes.

89 Hopi, 90 Zuni, 91 Rio Grande, 92 Navaho, 93 Pima, 94 Mohave, 95 Jicarilla, 96 Mescalero.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF AREAS OF MATERIAL CULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA (after C. Wissler, _Am. Anth._ XVI. 1914).]

#North America#: _Eskimauan_ (Innuit, Aleut, Karalit); _Athapascan_ (Dene, Pacific division, Apache, Navaho); _Koluschan_; _Algonquian_ (Delaware, Abnaki, Ojibway, Shawnee, Arapaho, Sauk and Fox, Blackfeet); _Iroquoian_ (Huron, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga); _Siouan_ (Dakota, Omaha, Crow, Iowa, Osage, a.s.siniboin); _Shoshonian_ (Comanche, Ute); _Salishan_; _Shahaptian_; _Caddoan_; _Muskhogean_ (Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole); _Pueblo_ (Zunian, Keresan, Tanoan).

#Central America#: _Nahuatlan_ (Aztec, Pipil, Niquiran); _Huaxtecan_ (Maya, Quiche); _Totonac_; _Miztecan_; _Zapotecan_; _Chorotegan_; _Tarascan_; _Otomitlan_; _Talamancan_; _Choco_.

#South America#: _Muyscan_ (Chibcha); _Quichuan_ (Inca, Aymara); _Yungan_ (Chimu); _Antisan_; _Jivaran_; _Zaparan_; _Betoyan_; _Maku_; _Pana_ (Cashibo, Karipuna, Setebo); _Ticunan_; _Chiquitan_; _Arawakan_ (Arua, Maypure, Vapisiana, Ipurina, Mahinaku, Layana, Kustenau, Moxo); _Cariban_ (Bakari, Nahuqua, Galibi, Kalina, Arecuna, Macusi, Ackawoi); _Tupi-Guaranian_ (Omagua, Mundurucu, Kamayura, Emerillon); _Gesan_ (Botocudo, Kayapo, Cherentes); _Charruan_; _Bororo_; _Karayan_; _Guaycuruan_ (Abipones, Mataco, Toba); _Araucanian_ or _Moluchean_; _Patagonian_ or _Tehuelchean_ (Pilma, Yacana, Ona); _Enneman_ (Lengua, Sanapana, Angaites); _Fuegian_ (Yahgan, Alakaluf).

It is impossible to dissociate the ethnological history of the New World from that of the Old. The absence from America at any period of the world's history not only of anthropoid apes but also of the _Cercopithecidae_, in other words of the Catarrhini, entirely precludes the possibility of the independent origin of man in the western hemisphere. Therefore the population of the Americas must have come from the Old World. In prehistoric times there were only two possible routes for such immigration to have taken place. For the mid-Atlantic land connection was severed long ages before the appearance of man, and the connection of South America with Antarctica had also long disappeared[737]. We are therefore compelled to look to a farther extension of land between North America and northern Europe on the one hand, and between north-west America and north-east Asia on the other.

We know that in late Tertiary times there was a land-bridge connecting north-west Europe with Greenland, and Scharff[738] believes that the Barren-ground reindeer took this route to Norway and western Europe during early glacial times, but that "towards the latter part of the Glacial period the land-connection ... broke down." Other authorities are of opinion that the continuous land between the two continents in higher lat.i.tudes remained until post-glacial times. Brinton[739]

considered that it was impossible for man to have reached America from Asia, because Siberia was covered with glaciers and not peopled until late Neolithic times, whereas man was living in both North and South America at the close of the Glacial Age. He acknowledged frequent communication in later times between Asia and America, but maintained that the movement was rather from America to Asia than otherwise. He was therefore a strong advocate of the European origin of the American race.

There is no doubt that North America was connected with Asia in Tertiary times, though some geologists a.s.sert that "the far North-west did not rise from the waves of the Pacific Ocean (which once flowed with a boundless expanse to the North Pole) until after the glacial period." In that case "the first inhabitants of America certainly did not get there in this way, for by that time the bones of many generations were already bleaching on the soil of the New World[740]." The "Miocene Bridge," as the land connecting Asia and America in late geological times has been called, was probably very wide, one side would stretch from Kamchatka to British Columbia, and the other across Behring Strait. If, as seems probable, this connection persisted till, or was reconst.i.tuted during, the human period, tribes migrating to America by the more northerly route would enter the land east of the great barrier of the Rocky Mountains. The route from the Old World to the New by the Pacific margin probably remained nearly always open. Thus, while not denying the possibility of a very early migration from North Europe to North America through Greenland, it appears more probable that America received its population from North Asia.

We have next to determine what were the characteristics of the earliest inhabitants of America, and the approximate date of their arrival. There have been many sensational accounts of the discoveries of fossil man in America, which have not been able to stand the criticism of scientific investigation. It must always be remembered that the evidence is primarily one of stratigraphy. a.s.suming, of course, that the human skeletal remains found in a given deposit are contemporaneous with the formation of that deposit and not subsequently interred in it, it is for the geologist to determine the age. The amount of petrifaction and the state of preservation of the bones are quite fallacious nor can much reliance be placed upon the anatomical character of the remains.

Primordial human remains may be expected to show ancestral characters to a marked degree, but as we have insufficient data to enable us to determine the rate of evolution, anatomical considerations must fit into the timescale granted by the geologist.

Apart from pure stratigraphy a.s.sociated animal remains may serve to support or refute the claims to antiquity, while the presence of artifacts, objects made or used by man, may afford evidence for determining the relative date if the cultural stratigraphy of the area has been sufficiently established.

Fortunately the fossil human remains of America have been carefully studied by a competent authority who says, "Irrespective of other considerations, in every instance where enough of the bones is preserved for comparison the somatological evidence bears witness against the geological antiquity of the remains and for their close affinity to, or ident.i.ty with those of the modern Indian. Under these circ.u.mstances but one conclusion is justified, which is that thus far on this continent, no human bones of undisputed geological antiquity are known[741]."

Hrdli[vc]ka subsequently studied the remains of South America and says, "A conscientious, unbiased study of all the available facts has shown that the whole structure erected in support of the theory of geologically ancient man on that continent rests on very imperfectly and incorrectly interpreted data and in many instances on false premises, and as a consequence of these weaknesses must completely collapse when subjected to searching criticism.--As to the antiquity of the various archaeological remains from Argentina attributed to early man, all those to which particular importance has been attached have been found without tenable claim to great age, while others, mostly single objects, without exception fall into the category of the doubtful[742]."

The conclusions of W. H. Holmes, Bailey Willis, F. E. Wright and C. N.

Fenner, who collaborated with Hrdli[vc]ka, with regard to the evidence thus far furnished, are that, "it fails to establish the claim that in South America there have been brought forth thus far tangible traces of either geologically ancient man himself or of any precursors of the human race[743]." Hrdli[vc]ka is careful to add, however, "This should not be taken as a categorical denial of the existence of early man in South America, however improbable such a presence may now appear."

According to J. W. Gidley[744] the evidence of vertebrate paleontology indicates (1) That man did not exist in North America at the beginning of the Pleistocene although there was a land connection between Asia and North America at that time permitting a free pa.s.sage for large mammals.