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lt> 



H 



U M 



A 



N 



S 



P 



E 



C 



I 



E 



S, 



279 



If we are defirous of tracing the races of all thefe iflande 





back 



to any continent, or its neighbourhood, * we muft cail an eye 



on 



CAUSES 

 OF VARI- 

 ETIES* 



map of the South Sea, wh 



r 



find it bounded to the Eail: by 



America, to the Weft by Afia, by the Indian Ifles on its North 



■ 



■ 



fide, and by New Holland to the South 



At firft fight, it might 



feem probable, that thefe tropical ifles were 



finally fettled 



from America 



cl 



s 



Eafterly winds are the moft prevalent in thefe 



feas, and as the fmall ai)d 



tched embarkations of the natives 



South Seas 



hardly be employed in plying to windward 



B 



f we 



fider the 



f 



gument more minutely, we find that 



America itfelf was not peopled many centuries before its difcovery 



There were but two flates or kingdoms on this 



j- 



r 



icquired any degree of population,, 

 in civilization; and they likewife 



by the Spaniards. 



immenfe continent, that had 

 and made confiderable progrefs 



did 



t) 



than about 3 



400 years before the 



arrival of the Spaniards 



families 



The reft v/as occupied by a few ftraggling 



fo that 



of 



thinly difperfed over this vaft trad of land, 

 fometimes not more than 30 or 40 perfons, lived in an e 

 100 leagues at very great diftances from each other. 

 ^N\itxi the Spaniards difcovered fome of thefe iilands in the South 



years only after the difcovery of the continent of 



\ J 



Ag 



/ 



Sea, 



few 



America, they found them as populous as we have feen them in 

 pur days ; from whence it appears to be highly improbable, that thefe 



1 



iiles 



/ 



i 



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