Journey across this Continent &§c. 199 
a great Tartar invasion similar to that which under Gengis- 
Khan devastated the Chinese Empire, and of that too which 
overwhelmed the Roman Empire. The exterminating cha- 
racter of the Tartars is well known, and it is probable that 
the whole of the race which built the forts, the vestiges of 
which are found between Lake Ontario, and the Gulf of 
Mexico was utterly destroyed by these Tartar invaders, whose 
descendants we now sce in the aboriginal red men of this 
continent. 
Ido not mean here to enter upon the grounds and reasons 
upon which this opinion rests, but beg leave to lay before the 
society some facts relating to this subject, that seemed to me 
to be of interest, to be found in a work not so generally knowa 
as it deserves to be ; thisis the history of Louisiana, by M. 
Le Page Du Pratz who gives the following account of the peo- 
pling of America. 
When the Natches retired to this part of America, where 
Isaw them, they there found several nations, or rather the 
remains of several nations, some on the east, others onthe 
west of the Mississipi. These are the people who are distia- 
guished among the natives by the name of Red Men; and 
their origin is so much the more obscure, as they have not 
so distinct a tradition as the Natches, nor arts and sciences 
like the Mexicans, from whence we might draw some satis- 
factory inferences. All that I could learnfrom them was, 
that they came from between the north and the sun-setting ; 
and this account they uniformly adhered to whenever they 
gave anyaccount of their origin. This lame tradition no 
ways satisfying the desire I had to be informed on this point, 
I made great inquirics to know if there was any wise old 
man among the neighbouring vations, who could give me 
further intelligence about the origin of the natives. I was 
happy enough to discover one, named Moneacht-apé among 
the Tauzous, 4 vation about forty leagucs north from the 
Z Natches. 
