us HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. r. 



ceive, a different ancestry from that of the generality of the 

 American nations. 



It is not wonderful that the notion of their transatlantic 

 origin should have been treated with derision. The advocates 

 for this opinion, like the framers of most other systems, by 

 attempting to prove too much, have gained even less credit 

 than they deserve. In contending that the New world was 

 first planted by adventurers from the Old, they universally 

 take for granted, that some of those adventurers returned, and 

 gave accounts of their discoveries; for they suppose that Ame- 

 rica was well known to the ancients; that not only the Phe- 

 nicians made repeated voyages thither; but that the Egyptians 

 and Carthaginians also, voluntarily crossed the Atlantic, and 

 planted colonies at different periods in various parts of the nevr 

 hemisphere. 



In support of these opinions, quotations have been made 

 from poets, philosophers and historians: But, if we reflect on 

 the limited extent of navigation bef >re the discovery of the 

 compass; the prevailing direction of the winds between the 

 tropics ; and various other obstructions, we may 1 think very 

 confidently determine, (notwithstanding the traditions preserved 

 by Plato; the poetical reveries of Seneca the tragedian, and 

 many other passages in ancient writers, which admit of vari- 

 ous interpretations, and therefore prove nothing), that no ves- 

 sel ever returned from any part of America before that of 

 Columbus. This conclusion, however, does by no means 

 warrant us in pronouncing, that no vessel ever sailed thither 

 from the ancient continent, either by accident or design, ante- 

 rior to that period. That such instances did actually happen, 

 and by what means, I shall now endeavour briefly to point 

 out. 



There is no circumstance in history better attested, than that 

 frequent voyages from the Mediterranean along the African 



