Diary in America, Series Two

On the discovery of America by Columbus, and the discoveries subsequent to his time, various tribes of Indians or savages were found to inhabit this our continent, whose origin was unknown.

It is, perhaps, difficult for the human mind to decide on the character and condition of an extreme savage state. We can readily believe that children abandoned in infancy in a savage country, and surviving this abandonment, to grow up in a state of nature, living on herbs and fruits, and sustaining existence as other wild animals, would be stupid, without language, without intellect, and with no greater instinct than that which governs the brute creation. We can conceive nothing reduced to a more savage condition; with cannibal propensities, an ungovernable ferocity, or a timid apprehension, there can be but a link that separates them from other classes of animal creation. So with herds of men in a savage state, like herds of buffalo or wild horses on our prairies, they are kept together by sounds common amongst themselves, and are utterly unacquainted with the landmarks of civilisation.

This, however, was not the condition of the American Indians when first discovered. They were a singular race of men, with enlarged views of life, religion, courage, constancy, humanity, policy, eloquence, love of their families; with a proud and gallant bearing, fierce in war, and, like the ancients, relentless in victory. Their hospitality might be quoted as examples among the most liberal of the present day. These were not wild men—these were a different class from those found on the Sandwich and Feegee Islands. The red men of America, bearing as they do the strongest marks of Asiatic origin, have, for more than two thousand years (and divided as they are in upwards of three hundred different nations) been remarkable for their intellectual superiority, their bravery in war, their good faith in peace, and all the simplicity and virtues of their patriarchal fathers, until civilisation, as it is called, had rendered them familiar with all the vices which distinguish the present era, without being able to enforce any of the virtues which are the boast of our present enlightened times.

It is, however, in the religious belief and ceremonies of the Indians that I propose showing some of the evidences of their being, as it is believed, the descendants of the dispersed tribes. The opinion is founded—

1st. In their belief in one God.

2nd. In the computation of time by their ceremonies of the new moon.

3rd. In their divisions of the year in four seasons, answering to the Jewish festivals of the feast of flowers, the day of atonement, the feast of the tabernacle, and other religious holidays.

4th. In the erection of a temple after the manner of our temple, and having an ark of the covenant, and also the erection of altars.

5th. By the divisions of the nation into tribes, with a chief, or grand sachem at their head.

6th. By their laws of sacrifices, ablutions, marriages; ceremonies in war and peace, the prohibitions of eating certain things, fully carrying out the Mosaic institutions;—by their traditions, history, character, appearance, affinity of their language to the Hebrew, and finally, by that everlasting covenant of heirship exhibited in a perpetual transmission of its seal in their flesh.

If I shall be able to satisfy your doubts and curiosity on these points, you will certainly rejoice with me in discovering that the dispersed of the chosen people are not the lost ones—that the promises held out to them have been thus far realised, and that all the prophecies relative to their future destination will in due time be strictly fulfilled.

It has been the general impression, as before mentioned, that great resemblance existed between some of the religious rites of the Jews, and the peculiar ceremonies of the Indians; and the belief in one Great Spirit has tended to strengthen the impression; yet this mere resemblance only extended so far as to admit of the belief, that they possibly may have descended from the dispersed tribes, or may have been of Tartar or Malay origin.

It was, however, a vague and unsatisfactory suspicion, which, having no tangible evidence, has been rejected, or thrown aside as a mere supposition. All the missionaries and travellers among the Indian tribes since the discovery of America—Adair, Heckwelder, Charliveux, Mckenzie, Bartram, Beltrami, Smith, Penn, Mrs Simon, who has written a very interesting work on this subject, etcetera, have expressed opinions in favour of their being of Jewish origin—the difficulty, however, under which they all laboured was simply this; they were familiar with the religious rites, ceremonies, traditions, and belief of the Indians, but they were not sufficiently conversant with the Jewish rites and ceremonies to show the analogy. It is precisely this link in the chain of evidence that I propose to supply.

It has been said that the Indians, believing in one great Spirit and Fountain of Life, like the Jews, does not prove their descent from the missing tribes, because in a savage state their very ignorance and superstition lead them to confide in the works of some divine superior being. But savages are apt to be idolaters, and personate the deity by some carved figure or image to whom they pay their adoration, and not, like the Indians, having a clear and definite idea of one great Ruler of the universe, one great Spirit, whose attributes are as well known to them as to us.

But if the continued unerring worship of one God like the Jews prove nothing, where did they acquire the same Hebrew name and appellation of that deity? If tradition had not handed down to them the ineffable name as also preserved by the Jews, how did they acquire it in a wilderness where the word of the Lord was never known?

Adair, in whom I repose great confidence, and who resided forty years among them, in his work published in 1775, says, “The ancient heathens worshipped a plurality of gods, but these Indians pay their devoirs to Lo-ak (Light) Ish-ta-koola-aba, distinctly Hebrew, which means the great supreme beneficent holy Spirit of Fire who resides above.”

“They are,” says Adair, “utter strangers to all the gestures practised by the Pagans in their religious rites—they kiss no idols, nor would they kiss their hands in tokens of reverence or willing obedience.”

“These tribes,” says Adair, “so far from being Atheists, use the great and dreadful name of God, which describes his divine essence, and by which he manifested himself to Moses! and are firmly persuaded that they now live under the immediate government of the Almighty Ruler. Their appellative for God is Isto-hoolo, the Hebrew of Esh-Eshys, from Ishto, Great, but they have another appellative, which with them, as with us, is the mysterious essential name of God, which they never mention in common speech, and only when performing their most sacred religious rites, and then they most solemnly divide it in syllables, with intermediate words, so as not to pronounce the ineffable name at once.”

Thus, in their sacred dances at their feast of the first-fruits, they sing Aleluyah and Mesheha, from the Hebrew of Masheach, Messiah, the anointed one.

“Yo mesheha,” “He mesheha,” “Wah meshehah,” thus making the Alleluyah, the Meshiah, the Yehovah.

Can we, for a moment, believe that these sacred well-known Hebrew words found their way by accident to the wilderness? Or can it be doubted that, like the fire of the burning bush, which never is extinguished, those words of religious adoration are the sacred relics of tradition, handed down to them from generation to generation? “In the same manner,” says Adair, “they sing on certain other religious celebrations, ailyo ailyo, which is the Hebrew el for God, by his attribute of omnipotence.” They likewise sing hewah, hewah, He chyra, the “immortal soul.” Those words sung at their religious rejoicings are never uttered at any other time, which must have occasioned the loss of their divine hymns. They on some occasions sing Shilu yo—Shilu he—Shilu wah. The three terminations make up in their order the four lettered divine name in Hebrew. Shilu is evidently Shaleach, Shiloth, the messenger, “the peace maker.”

The number of Hebrew words used in their religious services is incredible; thus, in chiding anyone for levity during a solemn worship, they say, Che hakeet Kana, “you resemble those reproved in Canaan,” and, to convey the idea of criminality, they say Hackset Canaha, “the sinners of Canaan.” They call lightning eloah, and the rumbling of thunder rowah, from the Hebrew ruach, “spirit.”

Like the Israelites, they divide the year into four seasons, with the same festivals; they calculate by moons, and celebrate, as the Jews do, the berachah halebana, the blessing for the new moon.

The Indians have their prophets and high-priests, the same as the Jews had; not hastily selected, but chosen with caution from the most wise and discreet, and they ordain their high-priests by anointing and have a most holy place in their sanctuaries, like the Holy of Holies in the temple. The archimagus, or high-priest, wears, in resemblance to the ancient breast-plate, a white conch-shell ornamented so as to resemble the precious stones on the Urim, and instead of the golden plate worn by the Levite on his forehead, bearing the inscription Kodish Ladonaye, the Indian binds his brows with a wreath of swan’s feathers, and wears a tuft of white feathers, which he calls Yatira.

The Indians have their ark, which they invariably carry with them to battle, well guarded. In speaking of the Indian places of refuge, Adair says, “I observed that if a captive taken, by the reputed power of the holy things of their ark, should be able to make his escape into one of these towns, or even into the winter house of the Archima gun, he is delivered from the fiery torture, otherwise inevitable. This, when taken in connection with the many other faint images of Mosaic customs, seems to point at the mercy-seat of the sanctuary. It is also worthy of notice, that they never place the ark on the ground. On hilly ground, where large stones are plenty, they rest it thereon, but on level prairies, upon short logs, where they also seat themselves. And when we consider,” continues Adair, “in what a surprising manner the Indians copy after the ceremonial law of the Hebrews, and their strict purity in the war camps; that opae, “the leader,” obliges all during the first campaign which they have made with the beloved ark, to stand every day, they are not engaged in warfare, from sunrise to sunset, and after a fatiguing day’s march and scanty allowance, to drink warm water embittered with rattle-snake root very plentifully, in order to purification; that they have also as strong a faith in the power of their ark as ever the Israelites had in theirs, ascribing the success of one party to their stricter adherence to the law, than the other, we have strong reason to conclude them of Hebrew origin. The Indians have an old tradition, that when they left their own native land, they brought with them a sanctified rod, by order of an oracle, which they fixed every evening in the ground, and were to remove from place to place on the continent, towards the sun rising, till it budded in one night’s time. I have seen other Indians,” says the same writer, “who related the same thing.” Instead of the miraculous direction to which they limit it, in their western banishment, it appears more likely that they refer to the ancient circumstance of the rod of Aaron, which, in order to check the murmur of those who conspired against him, was, in his favour, made to bud blossoms and yield almonds at one and the same time. It is a well attested fact, and is here corroborated by Adair, that in taking female captives, the Indians have often protected them, but never despoiled them of honour.

This statement of Adair, in relation to the ark, is corroborated by several travellers. Major Long, a more recent traveller, in his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, says, in relation to the ark, “It is placed upon a stand, and is never suffered to touch the earth. No person dare open all the coverings. Tradition informs them that curiosity induced three different persons to examine the mysterious shell, who were immediately punished for their profanation by instant blindness.” This is the Jewish punishment pronounced for looking on the holy of holies—even now for looking on the descendants of the high priest who alone have the privilege of blessing the people.

The most sacred fast day uniformly kept by the Jews is the day of atonement, usually falling in the month of September or early in October. This is deemed in every part of the world a most solemn fast, and great preparations are made for its celebration. It is in the nature of expiation of sin, of full confession, penitence, and prayer; and is preceded by ablution and preparation of morning prayer for some time.

It is a very sacred fast, which lasts from sunset on one day until the new moon is seen on the succeeding evening. It is not in the nature of a gloomy desponding penance, but rather a day of solemn rejoicing, of hope and confidence, and is respected by those most indifferent to all other festivals throughout the year.

Precisely such a fast, with similar motives, and nearly at the same period of the year, is kept by the Indian natives generally.

Adair, after stating the strict manner in which the Indians observe the revolutions of the moon, and describing the feast of the harvest, and the first offerings of the fruits, gives a long account of the preparations in putting their temple in proper order for the great day of atonement, which he fixes at the time when the corn is full-eared and ripe, generally in the latter end of September. He then proceeds:

“Now one of the waiters proclaims with a loud voice, for all the warriors and beloved men whom the purity of their law admits, to come and enter the beloved square and observe the fast. He also exhorts the women and children, with those who have not been initiated in war, to keep apart according to the law.

“Four sentinels are now placed one at each corner of the holy square, to keep out every living creature as impure, except the religious order, and the warriors who are not known to have violated the law of the first fruit-offering, and that of marriage, since the last year’s expiation. They observe the fast till the rising of the second sun; and be they ever so hungry in the sacred interval, the healthy warriors deem the duty so awful, and disobedience so inexpressibly vicious, that no temptation would induce them to violate it. They at the same time drink plentifully of a decoction of the button snake root, in order to vomit and dense their sinful bodies.”

“In the general fast, the children and men of weak constitutions, are allowed to eat, as soon as they are certain that the sun has begun to decline from his meridian altitude.

“Now every thing is hushed. Nothing but silence all around. The great beloved man, and his beloved waiter, rising up with a reverend carriage, steady countenance and composed behaviour, go into the beloved place, or holiest, to bring them out the beloved fire. The former takes a piece of dry poplar, willow, or white oak, and having cut a hole, but not so deep as to reach through it; he then sharpens another piece, and placing that in the hole, and both between his knees, he drills it briskly for several minutes, till it begins to smoke—or by rubbing two pieces together for a quarter of an hour, he collects by friction the hidden fire, which they all consider as proceeding from the holy spirit of fire.

“The great beloved man, or high priest, addresses the warriors and women; giving all the particular, positive injunctions and negative precepts they yet retain of the ancient law. He uses very sharp language to the women. He then addresses the whole multitude. He enumerates the crimes they have committed, great and small, and bids them look at the holy fire which has forgiven them. He presses on his audience, by the great motives of temporal good and the fear of temporal evil, the necessity of a careful observance of the ancient law, assuring them that the holy fire will enable their prophets, the rain makers, to procure them plentiful harvests, and give their war leaders victory over their enemies. He then orders some of the fire to be laid down outside of the holy ground, for all the houses of the various associated towns, which sometimes lay several miles apart.”

Mr Bartram, who visited the southern Indians in 1778, gives an account of the same feast, but in another nation. He says, “that the feast of first-fruits is the principal festival. This seems to end the old and begin the new ecclesiastical year. It commences when their new crops are arrived to maturity. This is their most solemn celebration.”

With respect to the sacrifices, we have had none since the destruction of the temple, but it was customary among the Jews, in the olden time, to sacrifice daily a part of a lamb. This ceremony is strictly observed by the Indians. The hunter, when leaving his wigwam for the chase, puts up a prayer that the great spirit will aid his endeavours to procure food for his wife and children, and when he returns with the red deer, whatever may be the cravings of hunger, he allows none to taste until he has cut part of the flesh, which he throws in the fire as a sacrifice, accompanied with prayer. All travellers speak of this practice among the Indians, so clearly Hebrew in its origin.

The bathings, anointings, ablutions, in the coldest weather, are never neglected by the Indians, and, like the Jews of old, they anoint themselves with bear’s oil.

The Mosaic prohibition of eating unclean animals, and their enumeration, are known to you all. It would be supposed that, amidst the uncertainty of an Indian life, all kinds of food would be equally acceptable. Not so: for, in strict conformity with the Mosaic law, they abstain from eating the blood of any animal, they abominate swine flesh, they do not eat fish without scales, the eel, the turtle or sea-cow: and they deem many animals and birds to be impure. These facts are noticed by all writers, and particularly by Edwards in his History of the West-Indies. The latter able historian, in noticing the close analogy between the religious rites of the Jews and Indians, says, “that the striking conformity of the prejudices and customs of the Caribbee Indians, to the practices of the Jews, has not escaped the notice of such historians as Gamella, Da Tertre, and others;” and Edwards also states, that the Indians on the Oroonoke, punished their women caught in adultery, by stoning them to death before the assembly of the people.

Among the Mosaical laws is the obligation of one brother to marry his brother’s widow, if he die without issue. Major Long says, “if the deceased has left a brother, he takes the widow to his lodge after a proper interval and considers her as his wife.”

This is also confirmed by Charliveux.

It would occupy a greater space of time than I can afford, to trace a similitude between all the Indian rites and religious ceremonies, and those of the Jewish nation. In their births, in their separation after the births of their children, in their daily prayers and sacrifices, in their festivals, in their burials, in the employment of mourners, and in their general belief, I see a close analogy and intimate connection, with all the ceremonies and laws which are observed by the Jewish people; making a due allowance for what has been lost, and misunderstood, in the course of upwards of 2,000 years.

A general belief exists among most travellers, that the Indians are the descendants of the missing tribes.

Menassah Ten Israel wrote his celebrated treatise to prove this fact, on the discovery of America.

William Penn, who always acted righteously to wards the Indians, and had never suspected that they had descended from the missing tribes, says, in a letter to his friends in England, “I found them with like countenances to the Hebrew race. I consider these people under a dark night, yet they believe in God and immortality, without the aid of metaphysics. They reckon by moons, they offer their first ripe fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles, they are said to lay their altars with twelve stones, they mourn a year, and observe the Mosaic law with regard to separation.”

Emanuel de Moraez, in his history of Brazil, declares that America has been peopled by the Carthaginians and Israelites, and as to the Israelites he says, nothing is wanting but circumcision, to constitute a perfect resemblance between them and the Brazilians.

The Reverend Mr Beatty, a very worthy missionary, says, “I have often before hinted, that I have taken great pains to search into the usages and customs of the Indians, in order to see what ground there was far supposing them to be part of the ten tribes, and I must own, to my no small surprise, that a number of their customs appear so much to resemble those of the Jews, that it is a great question with me, whether we can expect to find among the ten tribes, wherever they are at this day, all things considered more of the footsteps of their ancestors than among the different Indian tribes.”

Monsieur de Guignes, an old French historian, in speaking of the discoveries made in America, before the time of Columbus, says, “These researches, which of themselves give us great insight into the origin of the Americans, lead to the determination of the route of the colonies sent to the continent;” and he proceeds to give reasons for his belief, that the greater part of them passed thither “by the most eastern extremities of Asia, where the two continents are only separated by a narrow strait, easy to cross.”

Beltrami, in his discovery of the sources of the Mississippi, after a full and interesting account of the Indians, says, “Different authors have brought them hither from all parts of the world. I was at first induced to join with those who derived them from the Hebrews. It seemed impossible for me to doubt that, by so doing, I should be building on an impregnable foundation.” He then proceeds to prove their Asiatic origin by many interesting facts.

The late Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, published his travels in America, in 1801. “It is curious and pleasing,” says he, “in reading the travels of those who have been among these people, to find how their customs comport with the laws of Moses;” and after describing at length their religious rites and ceremonies, his lordship emphatically observes, “It is a sound truth, that the Indians are descended from the ten tribes; and time and investigation will more and more enforce its acknowledgment.”

It is, however, in Mexico and Peru, that we must look for the most enlightened and the most wealthy of the Indian race. On the representations of Montesini, who travelled in South America, the learned Rabbi Menassah Ten Israel, as I have said before, wrote his famous work La Esperanza de Israel, which he published in Amsterdam, in 1650, endeavouring with great zeal to prove, that the Indians in North and South America were the descendants of the missing tribes; and Cromwell, to whom the work was dedicated, was greatly interested in the evidences produced on that occasion. Montesini, travelling through the province of Quif found that his Indian guide was a Jew, and pursuing his inquiries, discovered that immense numbers lived behind the Cordilleras. Francis, the name of his guide, admitted to Montesini, that his God was called Adonal, and that he acknowledged Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as his ancestors, and they claimed to have descended from the tribe of Reuben.

Acosta contends that they have a tradition relative to the deluge; that they preserve the rite of circumcision; they offer the first-fruits, and in Peru they eat the Paschal Lamb; they believe in the resurrection, and clothe the dead with the richest equipage. Lopez de Gomara says, that some of them, and not all, are circumcised. Acosta continues, “the Mexicans point out the various stations as their ancestors advanced into their country, and it is precisely the route which they must have held, had they been emigrants from Asia.”