Travels Amongst American Indians
Their Ancient Earthworks and Temples
9781465630957
118 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
There were certain subjects that I particularly wished to examine, especially those that were connected with the mounds or earthworks in the valley of the Ohio, and the ruined temples of the southern regions of Mexico and Guatemala. In the lands inhabited, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, by Indian tribes who had reached a singular form of civilisation, the origin of which has not yet been traced, it is probable that some discovery will be made which will throw light upon the manner in which their knowledge was obtained. The problems which have yet to be solved with respect to the ruins at Palenque, and in Yucatan, have a fascination for those who are interested in the endeavour to seek an explanation of the strange events that must have happened amongst the Indians who inhabited that part of the world. It is possible that evidences may be found which will lead to the conclusion that at some period, not very remote, there has been an introduction amongst the aboriginal races of influences derived from Europe or Asia, and it is not unreasonable to expect that when the hieroglyphs within the altars of Palenque are interpreted, much that is now unintelligible will be made clear. The investigations of Mr. Stephens, in 1840, together with the earlier reports of Del Rio and Dupaix, directed attention to the extraordinary character of the pyramids and stone structures that were found deserted and ruined within the tropical lands and forests. In the North the field of research has been carefully examined by competent explorers, but, even in that region, there is much that is open to theory or conjecture with regard to the purposes for which the great earthworks in the interior of the Continent were raised. There is also an almost complete absence of definite knowledge respecting the race and subsequent migrations of the tribes that dwelt within those embankments. The extensive shell heaps or kitchen middens found near the seacoasts, have been partly excavated, and, judging from the implements of bone and the weapons which they contain, it has been made evident that the Indians must have had customs singularly corresponding with those of the tribes who formed the shell mounds in Europe. I had no theories to establish, but I expected to find that the tribes in the West and North-West resembled the Manchu race I had seen in the North of China, and that the Indians in Central America would show traces of kindred with the Malays. I also thought that, in the ruined temples, there would be seen architectural affinities with the Buddhist monasteries in Upper Burmah and Cambodia. These were however only surmises, and I was prepared to recognise that it would be necessary to adopt other conclusions. It was difficult to arrange for any decided plan of travel, but I intended, in the first instance, to visit the Navy Yards and observe what progress was being made with respect to ships and their armaments; and then to proceed to those parts of America where the principal works of the aboriginal tribes still remain. Finally, I hoped to be able to cross the Continent and go down the Mexican and Guatemalan coasts, and from one of the ports on the Western seaboard, cross Central America from the Pacific to the Atlantic towards Yucatan. Such was the outline of the direction that I proposed to follow, but which would be varied or changed as circumstances might require. We left Liverpool in the Samaria on the 15th of March, 1869, and reached New York late in the evening of the 28th, after having experienced a continuation of head winds and stormy weather, which made our passage across the Atlantic long and tedious. My first care, upon arrival, was to call upon Mr. Henry Grinnell, whose exertions and services in prosecuting, at his own expense, the search for Sir John Franklin and the ships beset in the Arctic ice, are so well known.
