HISTORY OF VERMONT. 237 



colour, or any thing in his constitution, that has 

 fitted him particularly for the torrid, temperate, 

 or fric^id zone : But has given him a nature and 

 constitution, adapted to every climate. And in 

 every climate which produces his proper food, 

 the white, the red, and the black men, will sub- 

 sist, multiply, and attain their proper perfection.* 

 If nature has thus made man the animal of all 

 climates, w^ould it not be altogether unphilosoph- 

 ical, to look out for local creations ; or to intro- 

 duce miraculous interpositions of the Deity, to 

 explain those differences among men in other 

 places, which in America, we are certain were 

 derived from natural causes ? 



Antk^uity. In attempting to estimate the 

 antiquity of the most polished nations, we can 

 derive but little information from history. No 

 records, no monuments, no writings can be 

 found, that reach back to so ancient a period. 

 Least of. all is this to h^ expected from a race 

 of savages, which had not the knowledge of let- 

 ters. All the information we can obtain, must 

 be derived from such circumstances and events, 

 as imply or denote certain periods of years ; and 

 of these there are but few, in the transactions of 

 the savage state. 



Some information may be collected from the 

 extent of the country they had settled. The 

 continent of America, in its dimensions, amounts 

 to one third part of the habitable globe. Over 

 the whole of this continent had the savasres ex- 

 tended, when it was first discovered by Colum- 

 bus, in the year 1492* Their population had 



* Appendix No. V. 



VOL, I. F 2 



