History of the Indians, of North and South AmericaGoodrich, Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold)
History
History of the Indians, of North and South America
Goodrich, Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold)
Indians of North America -- History; Indians of South America -- History
In respect to the general resemblance of the Indians, an able writer
of a recent date, treating of this question, says,--“The testimony of
all travellers goes to prove that the native Americans are possessed
of certain physical characteristics which serve to identify them
in places the most remote, while they assimilate not less in their
moral character. There are also, in their multitudinous languages,
some traces of a common origin; and it may be assumed as a fact,
that no other race of men maintains so striking an analogy through
all its subdivisions, and amidst all its varieties of physical
circumstances,--while, at the same time, it is distinguished from all
the other races by external peculiarities of form, but still more by
the internal qualities of mind and intellect.”
M. Bory de St. Vincent attempted to show that the American race
includes four species besides the Esquimaux; but he appears to have
failed in establishing his theory.
Dr. Morton has paid great attention to the subject. He conducted
his investigations by comparisons of the skulls of a vast number of
different tribes, the results of which he has given to the public in
his “_Crania Americana_.” He considers the most natural division to be
into the _Toltecan_ and _American_; the former being half-civilized,
and including the Peruvians and Mexicans; the latter embracing all the
barbarous nations except the Esquimaux, whom he regards as of Mongolian
origin.
He divides each of these into subordinate groups, those of the American
class being called the _Appalachian_, _Brazilian_, _Patagonian_, and
_Fuegian_.
The APPALACHIAN includes all those of North America except the
Mexicans, together with those of South America north of the Amazon and
east of the Andes. They are described thus. “The head is rounded, the
nose large, salient, and aquiline, the eyes dark-brown, with little
or no obliquity of position, the mouth large and straight, the teeth
nearly vertical, and the whole face triangular. The neck is long, the
chest broad, but rarely deep, the body and limbs muscular, seldom
disposed to fatness.” In character, they “are warlike cruel, and
unforgiving,” averse to the restraints of civilized life, and “have
made but little progress in mental culture or the mechanic arts.”
Of the BRAZILIAN it is said, that they are spread over a great part
of South America east of the Andes, including the whole of Brazil and
Paraguay between the River Amazon and 35 degrees of south latitude.
In physical characteristics, they resemble the Appalachian; their
nose is larger and more expanded, their mouth and lips also large.
Their eyes are small, more or less oblique, and farther apart, the
neck short and thick, body and limbs stout and full, to clumsiness. In
mental character, it is said, that none of the American race are less
susceptible of civilization, and what they are taught by compulsion
seldom exceeds the humblest elements of knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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