26 Some Account of the 



objection to Mr. Zimmermann's notion concerning 

 the recent creation of America, and the recent popu- 

 lation of this great portion of the globe. Could it be 

 proved, that the Alco and the Itzcuintepotzotli have 

 sprung from the wolf, it would be natural to infer, 

 that an immense period of time had elapsed before 

 these animals could have been brought into the mild, 

 domesticated state, in which the discoverers of Ame- 

 rica found them. 



VII. And lastly. This is not the place to inquire 

 into the period of the population of America. I have 

 touched upon this question in another work*, and 

 shall examine it more fully in a work in which I have 

 long been engaged. Here, however, I may observe, 

 that many circumstances forbid the idea, that Ame- 

 rica is a new creation, recently emerged from the in- 

 fluence of the ocean. And circumstances, impressive 

 in their nature, render it extremely probable, that 

 many of the nations of America have resided in this 

 portion of the world for some thousand years. Try- 

 ing them by their languages, the Americans will 

 appear to be children of the earliest human families, 

 of which history, or the traditions of mankind, have 

 preserved any memorials. 



Among the almost innumerable charges which 

 have been brought against the Indian inhabitants of 

 America, there is one, which it becomes the historian 

 of Indian dogs to take some notice of. The Indians 



• New Views, kc. Preliminary Discourse, p. 104 — 109. 



