Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/43

PREFATORY LETTER. 7 documents elucidating the past history of tribes still in the hunter state, cannot be a matter of much regret. That of the commencement and progress of civilization in Mexico, and in some portions of South Amer- ica, would, if recoverable, be highly interesting. I rather incline to the opinion, that that civilization grew out of natural causes, and is en- tirely of American origin. In the brief notices of our Indian tribes, contained in the first five sections of the Introductory Essay, I have, for the reasons above stated, confined myself to the events subsequent to the first arrival of the European invaders. The authorities are always referred to. The " Re- lations de la Nouvelle France," often quoted, are the collection of the original annual reports of the Jesuits in Canada, to their superiors in Europe, from the year 1633 to 1672, when they were superseded by the " Lettres Edifiantes." They have afforded to Charlevoix the principal materials for the corresponding portion of his valuable and faithful ac- count of the Indians ; but he had not exhausted all the information they contain. The Map annexed to the Essay shows, on a very small scale, the seats of the Indians at the time when first discovered ; that is to say, at the beginning of the seventeenth century for the Atlantic states, and to the westward generally, at the end of the eighteenth. It did not come within the scope of this Essay to delineate the habits and characteristics which distinguish the Indian race. Ample details will be found in the writings of the earliest English and French, and of the latest American and English travellers. I have only adverted to some peculiarities which appeared to deserve attention, and more espe- cially to the means of subsistence of the Indians, to the causes of their gradual extinction, and to the only means by which, as it seems to me, the residue can be preserved. Notwithstanding the reckless cruelty and ravages of the first Spanish conquerors, the descendants of the na- tive Mexicans are at present probably as numerous as their ancestors at the time of the conquest. For this no other cause seems assignable than the fact, that they had then already emerged from the hunter state, and had acquired the habits of agricultural and mechanic labor. I submit the whole to the judgment of the Antiquarian Society, and have the honor to be respectfully, Sir, Your very obedient servant, ALBERT GALLATIN. To George Folsom, Esq., of the Publishing Committee of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. P. S. The deficiency in the enumeration of the Indian tribes border- ing on the Pacific, between the sixtieth and forty-eighth degrees of lati-