The Origin of the American Indian

The Origin of the American Indian

By Elder William Evans

SCIENTISTS and near-scientists are advancing theories as to the origin of the American aboriginees. They seem to be wandering in a morass of theory and supposition.

Latter-day Saints come forward with the positive statement that the Book of Mormon is a record of the hand-dealings of God with the forefathers of the Indians who are of Israelitish origin.

Some scientists scoff at the book and declare that the Indians are of Mongolian origin, and that ancient America was peopled by a Mongoloid type of mankind who crossed from Asia to Alaska through the Bering Strait; that in early times a narrow strip of land may have connected the two continents where the strait now exists which formed a bridge and made an easy migration possible. Also they maintain that these Mongolians gradually went south, eventually covering North and South America, from Alaska to the Straight of Magellan.

Many scientists of note have spent years in an attempt to establish this theory as a truth with little result, except the acquirement of a tenacity of purpose, a sort of “I stick to my story” attitude.

Investigators claim that the Indians have Mongoloid features and characteristics; and one Protestant missionary claims to have found Japanese words in the Navajo language which have the same meaning in both tongues.

Data in the Book of Mormon indicates that the forefathers of the Indians migrated from the Land of Palestine, and after many experiences and vicissitudes landed on the west coast of South America and spread northward.

After more than forty years of neighbourship with the Navajo Indians, the largest and most virile tribe in North America, together with a study of their habits and customs,. the writer believes the Book of Mormon to be the true solution. This conclusion has been aided by a study of the tribal lore, by the excavation and study of the remains of ancient America, both at home and in the reports of investigators in other parts of the Americas.

Data contained in the Ancient American Record, coupled with the known facts and a study of ancient America, are the compelling influences in reaching the conclusion that facts and attainable data inevitably point to a northward movement, and this conclusion deals a death blow to the theory of a Mongolian origin.

This movement commenced more than twenty centuries ago. It started on that narrow strip of country, the west coast of South America, probably near the Chili of today. It continued up through Peru, over the Isthmus of Panama and found the greatest height of its civilization, first in Yucatan and then in the valley of the City of Mexico.

This spread of colonization reached its last great wave on both sides of the southern boundary lines of the modern states of Utah and Colorado. This last line had receded somewhat on the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores who discovered the remnants of this last great wave of ancient colonization in the northern sections of New Mexico and Arizona.

As to the professedly Mongolian type of features found among the American Indians, the following facts should be noted. Throughout the Navajo nation one can find almost any type of features. The Mongoloid type ru,ns in certain clans, and in others are seen the thick lips of the Negroid, the upturned upper lips of the Mongolian and the thin lips of the Cacausian. One may find Irish, Scotch, German, Latin and Russian types, as well as that of the Egyptian and the Hindu.

The inclusion of a few Japanese words in the Navajo tongue is quite a coincidence. And so, too, and along the same line is the following:

A number of years ago, Llewellyn Harris, a Welsh convert to the Church, was doing missionary work for the Latter-day Saint organization among the Western Indians, and particularly with the Zuni tribe of Pueblo Indians, descendants of the Cliff-dwellers, the Lamanites. While he was among them an epidemic of small-pox ravaged the tribe. Elder Harris worked tirelessly, and administered to and healed hundreds of them. Many died, but his faith and diligence halted the ravages of the disease. To this day he is held in reverence and affection by the older members of the tribe.

While with them he discovered that they used a number of Welsh words with practically the same meanings in both languages. Shall we then assume that the Zuni Indians are of Welsh origin? By no means. Elder Harris accounted for this coincidence as follows: Some centuries ago a Welsh chieftain with a few followers sailed westward. He found a land of much promise, and returned after a time to the shores of Britain. He then organized a colony which sailed in two or more ships, and which never returned. His supposition is that the Welsh colony landed in America and finally became assimilated with the native peoples. They lost their identity to the natives, but some of their Welsh words were taken into the Indian language and still persisted, even after this branch of the Indians had moved north.

The Navajo Indians have traditional stories, particularly of the creation and incidentally of other happenings, which parallel very closely the account of events given in the books of Moses.

When this fact was called to the attention of an educated and intelligent non-Mormon he said, “The parallelisms are so marked as to be startling.”

It would be absurd to say that the tribe inherited these legends from a Mongolian source. The Book of Mormon says that Lehi and his family brought a record of the five books of Moses with them from Jerusalem. It is an entirely safe assumption that this accounts for the remarkable traditional lore of the Indians regarding the event mentioned.

Next, the architectural remains of ancient America have nothing in common with any type of Mongolian structures, and no one has ever atempted to prove that they do. Rather, the general opinion is that the pre-historic American buildings, particularly the temples, have an Egyptian trend. This coincides with the statement of Joseph Smith and others that the characters on the plates from which the Nephite Record was translated were “reformed Egyptian.”

The Book of Mormon declares that Christ came, after His resurrection, and established a church on the American continent, such as He organized on the eastern hemisphere, thus fulfilling a statement of His own. Before His advent among the Nephites, ancient American prophets had foretold his death upon the Cross.

These facts alone are sufficient to cast serious doubts upon the theory of a Mongolian origin. The legend among the early American Indians of a white, or fair God, who had ministered among them, and who should return at a later time, is certainly more Christian than heathen Mongolian.

The Navajos have a custom which brands one who has handled the dead as unclean. After a period of isolation and a cleansing ceremony by the medicine-man, who is also a priest, the unclean one is restored to cleanliness and is reunited with his people. An ancient Hebrew custom was remarkably similar. In that day, too, the priest went through a ceremony of purification.

The tribe has a ceremony of the bitter herbs. So did the Hebrews of olden times. (Exodus 12:8; Numbers 9:11)

Navajo medicine-men sometimes pass the emblems of the sacrament during certain ceremonials. The emblems consist of blessed or sacred corn meal and of water. All present partake of the emblems. They know not why it is done, except that it has come down to them from antiquity—a survival of a Christian rite, unknown in Mongolia.

The ceremony of washing and anointing is practiced by the Navajo tribe. In ancient Israelitish times the tabernacle of witness was anointed with oil, as well as the head of the participant in the rites. In the Indian ceremony, corn pollen is used in place of oil. The ailing one is washed from a medicine basket in which water has been brought to a suds by stirring in the dried powdered roots of the yucca plant, commonly termed soap-weed. The medicine lodge is then anointed at the four points of the compass and the sick one receives a sprinkling of the corn pollen on the top of the head. All this is accompanied by singing, which is the native form of prayer.

If the student, casual reader or even the scoffer will weigh even the brief evidence herein presented in an honest manner, there can be but one conclusion, the evidence is nearly all on the side of an Israelitish origin for the Indians.