Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 | Page 9

and for
what use.
2. Who built them? Were they Malays? If they were Malays, did they
come from Australasia, or from the Islands of the Pacific Ocean?
3. If they were not Malays, who were they? Were they Mauritanians,
vide Postel; or Scandinavians, vide Busbeck; or Canaanites, vide
Gomara, and John de Lery; or descendants of the tribes led captive by

Psalmanazar, vide Thevet; or of Shera and Japhet, vide Torniel; or a
colony of Romans, vide Marinocus; or Gauls, vide James Charron; or
Friezelanders, vide Hamconius and Juffredus Petri; or Celtæ, vide
Abraham Milius; or Phoenicians, vide Le Compte; or Carthaginians,
vide Father Acosta, &c. &c.?
4. Had this ancient people the art of embalming human bodies, or is
that art of modern invention, as some pretend?
5. If M. Verdier find they are of Malay origin, he must ascertain in
what year of the world they went to America, and who was their leader;
6. How long they resided there, and under which pope they were driven
away or exterminated.
7. In what manner, and by what conveyance, was the transportation
made? Did they cross Behring's Straits, or on the ice from Japan to
California? Were the first settlers the crew of some vessel or vessels
driven to the western continent by stress of winds, or were they led
thither by some far-sighted captain?
8. Finally, how many ships did it take to carry them over?
Many pages of remarks, by different members, were appended to this
paper. The other paper, marked B., read as follows:
B.
1. Is the similarity of physiognomy and features between the present
race of American Indians and the Asiatic Tartars strong enough to
induce an unprejudiced observer to pronounce them members of the
same great family of mankind, or, to speak so as to be understood, 'does
an Indian look like a Tartar?'
2. Are the coincidences of sound and signification in the languages of
North America and Tartary sufficiently numerous and unequivocal to
induce one to pronounce them of a common origin?

3. Do the customs and manners of the North American Indians
correspond in any material degree with those of their supposed brethren,
the Tartars?
4. Are there any animals, wild or domestic, tameable or untameable, in
America, which are of a species known to exist at this day in Tartary?
And is there any thing in the vegetable kingdom of the west which
bears marks of derivation from that country?
5. Is there any reason to think these Indians descended from the Welsh?
What are we to think of the voyage of Madoc and his supposed
colonization of the Western continent? Upon this point M. Verdier will
do well to examine their pedigrees with great care.
The committee deem it altogether impossible to particularise all the
subjects upon which questions may be put, to the fair furtherance of the
objects which the Society has in view in sending out M. Verdier. A
great deal must be left to his discretion and judgment. Many reflections
will occur to him, as he personally surveys the monuments, and
becomes acquainted with the people of that continent, which does not
occur to us, and perhaps never would to him but for such visit.
The Society hope every thing from the zeal, the perseverance, and the
talents, of their missionary. They hope to be able to record as a
benefactor to this Society, to the kingdom, to the world, not only M.
Verdier, but the gentleman who first recommended him to their notice.
Thus furnished with ample directions, and with a letter to the governor
of the French possessions in Canada, M. Verdier set out upon his
travels in May 1697. The Society liberally afforded him the means of
conciliating the Savages, furnishing him with abundance of those
articles which they were supposed to covet, such as beads, knives, &c.
The ship in which he sailed had a very short passage, at least for a
period when the arts of ship-building and navigation were so little
understood, and landed him safely at Quebec some days before the
setting-in of winter. The dignity of our traveller's mission, the high
reputation of the Society under whose auspices he acted, together with
his own merit, attested by strong letters of introduction, operated to

procure him a most cordial and gratifying reception. All ranks joined in
evincing unbounded respect both for him and his object, and in placing
all possible helps within his reach. One admitted him to his museum of
Indian curiosities, another presented him with a bundle of Indian
manuscripts, a third took measures with the Indian chiefs for his
unmolested passage through their country, a fourth instructed him in
the Indian language, and taught him the peculiarities of their hundred
dialects. Nor were the women behind the