SOME REMAINS of ANTIQUITY. 187 



ject of my earlier and rtiy prefent days, I hope I fliall be 

 able to demonftrate the phyfical antiquity of America ; 

 the remotenefs of its population ;* the countries from 

 which it was peopled j and thefewnefs of its radical lan- 

 guages. I trufl, 1 fliall alfo be able to vindicate, from 

 fhe afperfions of certain popular and eloquent writers,-f- 

 the intellectual character of the Americans. And al- 

 though I fhall not be able to fliew that highly civilized 



that freedonl of mind, which are neceffary even for the exaft arrangement 

 of thole materials which my early enthufiafm, and my early labour put me 

 in polleffion of. But I have not relinquilhed the idea of publifliing this 

 work. On the contrary, I am ftill affiduous in collecting new materi- 

 als, and hope to publifh the whole in two or three yeai-s. Having greatly 

 extended my original plan, I cannot i^atter myfelf with the profpecft of fub- 

 mitting my labours to the public much fooner than the period juft men- 

 tioned. 



* The recent date of the population of America has been warmly con- 

 tended for by feveral writers. I could wifti, that my excellent friend, the 

 Reverend Dr. J. Belknap, had not leaned to this notion. See his D'l/ferla- 

 iion on the Colour af the Native Americans, and the Recent Population of this 

 Continent. Bollon : 1792. One of the mod curious arguments that \ 

 have heard urged in favour of the late peopling of America, was that of 

 the able profeifor Dugald Stewart, of Edinburgh. In his leflures, he fpake 

 of the great uniformity in the figure and complexion of the native Ameri- 

 cans. He imagined that climate, or fituation, is the principal phyfical agent 

 that varies the human form and complexion. But the Americans, from 

 their uniform appearance, cannot, he laid, long have inhabited the coun- 

 tries of America ;fo that the climates have not had time to produce their great 

 effe<5ls. Without denying the immenfe influence of climate, &c, and believing, 

 as I do, that the greater part of the Americans are Afiatics, I cannot help 

 obferving that thofe writers who fuppofe that there is but very little differ- 

 ence between the Americans, in different parts of this vafl continent, are 

 greatly miftaken. See what the Abbe M6lina has faid on this fubjeft. 

 *' Rido tra me lleffo, quando leggo in certi fcrittori moderni riputati dili- 

 genti oiTervatori, che tutti gli Americani hanno un medelimo afpetto, e che 

 quando fe ne abbia veduto uno, li porta dire di avergli veduti tutti. Co- 

 delli autori (i lafciarono troppo fedurre da certe vaghe apparenze di fomi- 

 glianza procedenti per lo piu dal colorito, le quail fvanilcono tofto che fl 

 cont'rontano gl' individui di una nazione con quelli dell' ahra. Un Chilefe non 

 fl differenzia meno nell' afpetto da un Peruviano, che'un' Italiano da un 

 Tedefco. lo ho veduto pur dei Paraguaj, de' Cujani, e del Magellanic!, i 

 qnali tutti hanno dei llneamenti peculiari, che li dillinguono notabilmente 

 gli uni dagll altri." Sulla Scoria Naturale del Chili, p. 336. 

 t Buffon, De Pauw, Raynal, and Robertfon. 



4 nations 



