have been towns of refuge; for it is not in the memory of man, that
ever human blood was shed in them, although they often force persons
from thence and put them to death elsewhere."
_16th, Their purifications and ceremonies preparatory._
"Before the Indians go to war they have many preparatory ceremonies of
purification and fasting like what is recorded of the Israelites."
_21st, Their raising seed to a deceased brother._
"The surviving brother, by the Mosaic law, was to raise seed to a
deceased brother, who left a widow childless. The Indian custom looks
the very same way; but in this as in their law of blood, the eldest
brother can redeem."
With these and many arguments of a like kind, has Mr. Adair endeavored
to support the conjecture, that the American Indians are lineally
descended from the Israelites; and gravely asks of those who may
dissent from his opinion of their origin and descent, to inform him
how they came here, and by what means they formed the long chain of
rites and customs so similar to those of the Hebrews, and dissimilar
to the rites and customs of the pagan world.
Major Carver, a provincial officer who sojourned some time with the
Indians and visited twelve different nations of them, instead of
observing the great similarity, mentioned by Adair as existing between
the natives and Hebrews, thought he could trace features of
resemblance between them and the Chinese and Tartars; and has
undertaken to shew how they might have got here. He says,
"Although it is not ascertained certainly, that the continents of Asia
and America join each other, yet it is proven that the sea which is
supposed to divide them, is full of islands the distance from which to
either continent, is comparatively trifling. From these islands a
communication with the main land could be more readily effected than
from any other point." "It is very evident that the manners and
customs of the American Indians, resemble that of the Tartars; and I
have no doubt that in some future era, it will be reduced to a
certainty that in some of the wars between the Chinese and Tartars, a
part [23] of the inhabitants of the northern provinces were driven
from their country and took refuge in some of these islands, and from
thence found their way to America. At different periods each nation
might prove victorious, and the conquered by turns fly before the
conquerors; and hence might arise the similitude of the Indians to all
these p
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