Can a rational doubt be entertained whether the above Indian words, and parts of sentences, were derived from their corresponding words and parts of sentences in Hebrew? If so, their adoption by savages at this distant time and place, would appear miraculous. Some one or two words might happen to be the same, among distant different nations. But that so many words, and parts of sentences too, in a language with a construction peculiar to itself, should so nearly,
and some of them exactly correspond, is never to be admitted as resulting from accident.
And if these words and parts of sentences are from their corresponding Hebrew, the Indians must have descended from the ten tribes of Israel.
Some of the Creek Indians called a murderer Abe; probably from Abel, the first man murdered, whose name in Hebrew imports, mourning. And they called one who kills a rambling enemy, Noabe; probably from Noah, importing rest, and Abe.—He thus puts his rambling enemy to rest. The Caribbee Indians and the Creeks had more than their due proportion of the words and parts of sentences in the above table.
Rev. Dr. Morse, in his late tour among the western Indians, says of the language; "It is highly metaphorical; and in this and other respects, they resemble the Hebrew. This resemblance in their language, (he adds) and the similarity of many of their religious customs to those of the Hebrews, certainly give plausibility to the ingenious theory of Dr. Boudinot, exhibited in his interesting work, the Star in the West."
Dr. Boudinot informs that a gentleman, then living in the city of New-York, who had long been much conversant with the Indians, assured him, that being once with the Indians at the place called Cohocks, they shewed him a very high mountain at the west, the Indian name of which, they informed him, was Ararat. And the Penobscot Indians, the Dr. informs, call a high mountain by the same name.
Doctor Boudinot assures us that he himself attended an Indian religious dance. He says; "They danced one round; and then a second, singing hal-hal-hal, till they finished the round. They then gave us a third round, striking up the words, le-le-le. On the next round, it was the words, lu-lu-lu, dancing with all their might. During the fifth round was sung, yah-yah-yah.—Then all joined in a lively and joyful chorus, and sung halleluyah; dwelling on each syllable with a very long breath, in a most pleasing manner." The Doctor adds; "There could be no deception in all this. The writer was near them—paid great attention—and every thing was obvious to the senses. Their pronunciation was very guttural and sonorous; but distinct and clear." How could it be possible that the wild native Americans, in different parts of the continent, should be singing this phrase of praise to the Great First Cause, or to Jah,— exclusively Hebrew, without having
brought it down by tradition from ancient Israel? The positive testimonies of such men as Boudinot and Adair, are not to be dispensed with, nor doubted. They testify what they have seen and heard. And I can conceive of no rational way to account for this Indian song, but that they brought it down from ancient Israel, their ancestors.
Mr. Faber remarks; "They (the Indians) call the lightning and thunder, Eloha; and its rumbling, Rowah, which may not improperly be deduced from the Hebrew word Ruach, a name of the third person of the Holy Trinity, originally signifying, the air in motion, or a rushing wind." Who can doubt but their name of thunder, Eloha, is derived from a Hebrew name of God, Elohim? Souard, (quoted in Boudinot,) in his Literary Miscellanies, says of the Indians in Surinam, on the authority of Isaac Nasci, a learned Jew residing there, that the dialect of those Indians, common to all the tribes of Guiana, is soft, agreeable, and regular. And this learned Jew asserts, that their substantives are Hebrew. The word expressive of the soul (he says) is the same in each language, and is the same with breath. "God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul" [Gen 2:7]. This testimony from Nasci, a learned Jew, dwelling with the Indians, must be of signal weight.
Dr. Boudinot from many good authorities says of the Indians; "Their language in their roots, idiom, and particular construction, appears to have the whole genius of the Hebrew; and what is very remarkable, it has most of the peculiarities of that language; especially those in which it differs from most other languages."