On the peopUvg of America. 217 



the other continent, who were celebrated as the founders of go- 

 vernment ; but tliosemen, in every case, appear to have fonnd a 

 weak, unconnected race of savages, scattered over the country in 

 which they lixed their empire. They certainly did not migrate 

 from a crowded hive, wlioever thev may have been. When the 

 ^mail tribes, who first settled in America, had destroyed the gar.ie 

 in one place, they removed to another without difficulty or oppo- 

 sition ; but in the process of time, migrations were not effected 

 witliout trouble, for all the country was claimed as hunting ground 

 by one tribe or aimther. In that case hostilities commenced, 

 and men were destroyed, that bears and buffaloes might have 

 room to breed. The failure of game caused the Indians, in some 

 -^es, to turn their attention to agriculture : and it appears that 

 ccessful ciiiefs, in the usual spirit of domination, in some cases 

 extended their authority, by adding weaker tribes to their respec- 

 tive empiies. In this manner, the monarchsof Peru and Mexico 

 were extending thoir domains when the Spaniards visited this 

 continent ; and in this manner the greatest empires formerlv 

 gprang up in the other hemisphere. But iMexico and Peru mav 

 have been wcil peopled, many a century before there was a mo- 

 narch in either of those countries. 



• It has been observed that the American savage, passing over 

 the shepherd state, was turning his attention, in some instances, 

 to the cultivation of the soil. From this circumstance it has 

 been alleged that he differs greatly from the man of the other 

 continent ; but this inference is not correctly deduced, for it is 

 known that the introduction of new arts a:;d cu';toms is frequently 

 to be ascrilied to what is called pure accident. The casual dis- 

 covery of gunpowder in Europe gave rise to a variety of new 

 customs and to the neglect of old ones. The introduction or 

 discovery of a grain, that was easily cultivated, may have pro- 

 moted agriculture; or the want of the most useful domestic ani- 

 mals may have caused the employment of a shepherd to be for- 

 gotten. The use of cow-, sheep, and goats was known to the 

 fin,t family upon the other continent ; and that family was also 

 instructed in tiie art of cultivating the earth. The first emi- 

 grants from the original stock were equally instructed in the se- 

 veral arts of tilling the earth, tending cattle, and killing game; 

 but as men always prefer the most easy mode of living, they would 

 rapport themselves, for many years, by hunting alone; for in new 

 countries, where there is any winter, a family is most easily sup- 

 ported by hunting and fishing. When the game failed, they had 

 recourse, in every case, to the other most easy mode of living, 

 to the care of cattle ; for the colonists, who were never separated 

 from the parent state by an ocean, could easily obtain a supply 

 ^f cattle when they needed tlK-m. In the progress of popula- 

 tion. 



