one time say that their ancestors came from the 

 north, and at another time, from the west. 



It is a general opinion that America was 

 settled from the north-eastern part of Asia, from 

 the supposed easy communication between them, 

 in consequence of the vicinity of these countries. 

 But the opinion entertained by the Chilians, that 

 their country was peopled from the west, is not 

 so extravagant as at first sight it may appear. 

 The discoveries of the English navigators in the 

 South Sea have ascertained that between America 

 and the southern point of Asia there is a chain of 

 innumerable islands, the probable remains of 

 some vast tract of land which, in that quarter, 

 once united the two continents, and rendered 

 the communication between Asia and the opposite 

 shore of America easy. From whence it is very 

 possible that, while North America has been 

 peopled from the north-west, the south has re- 

 ceived its inhabitants from the southern parts of 

 Asia, the natives of this part of the new world 

 being of a mild character, much resembling that 

 of the southern Asiatics, and little tinctured 

 w'ith the ferocity of the Tartars. Like the lan- 

 guages of the Oriental Indians, theirs is also 

 harmonious, and abounds in vowels. The in- 

 fluence cff climate may undoubledly affect lan- 

 guage so far as to modify it, but can never 

 produce a complete change in its primitive struc- 

 ture. 



