Chap. II. A M E K I C A. 19 



1 



{laughter fee the Verfian Crown on their Head , which immediately totter'd by 

 bloudy Commotions ? for Tangrolifix being King of (Pcr/w, clafliing with his 

 Brother Qutlumufes , made Terfia fwim in the Blood of a Civil- War , till at laft 

 Zengis Qhan brought from Tartary fo great an Army, Anno 1200, that none durft 

 ftay to make oppofition ; for the Turks forfook ferfia after a Conqueft of fix 

 Ages, and made their own way for new Quarters into Cannama, Phrygia, and 

 {Bithynia, whence they made fuch incurfions on the Greek Empire, that at laft 

 they became fole Mafters thereof. Who cannot but eafily judge by this, how 

 little opportunity the ten Tribes had, to be affemblcd together from remote 

 Countreys, and to go long Journeys through untrack'd ways, and full of Ene- 

 mies, to travel to America ? 



Immamel de Moraes, who had gotten peculiar knowledge of the Americans by ^"4^^^^ 

 his long Converfation with them, judgeth that they are not deriv'd from one 

 People, but from the Qtrthaginians and Jews, and that at feveral times, and pla- 

 ces, they Landed in this New World 5 for the Carthaginians Sailing thither, 

 found the Soyl fo fertile, that many forfook their Native Countrey to dwell 

 there : Whereupon, it was" forbidden upon pain of Death, to fend no more 

 thither , left if Carthage fliould be invaded by a foraign Enemy, it mould want 

 People for a Home-defence-: From this occafion it.happen'd, that thofe that 

 were already Trantported, became rude, and of a Salvage Difpofition, and 

 fpreading their Families, planted the defolate Countreys in a ranging manner, 

 without acknowledging any Supreme Head or Governor. 



Thus being fcatter'd up and down , every one invented to himfelf a new 

 Language, which fliould neither agree with the Carthaginians, or any other : 

 But this Opinion is before at large contradicted. 

 m Moreover, Moraes endeavors to fliew, that the l Brafdians are of a Hebrew Ex- Cuftoms and iConftnuti- 



r i r <t -i x a ons ot the Era/haw nc fez 



tract, becauie that according to the example of the JeH>s, they might not Mar* vcraj. 

 ry, but in their own Tribes ; they alfo call their Unkles, Fathers, and their 

 Aunts, Mothers ; froth mourn for the Dead a Moneth together, and wear long 

 Garments down to. their Ankles. But thefe Arguments feem to us of fmall 

 confequence, for indeed the Srafilians differ in their Marriages from the Jews, 

 for they not onely Marry in their own Tribes, but frequently commix with 

 their Sifters, and Daughters, or other their neareft Relations. Moreover, the 

 Je»s caird them Fathers, from whofe Loyns they fprang many Ages before, as 

 well as their Unkles, which the Americans do not. 



The Mourning for the Dead hath been an old Cuftom, and is not obferv'd 

 by many People, but the time of a Moneth was not fetled amongft them, but 

 was obferv'd after a more unufual manner , feventy days, as in the Fields of 

 Moab for Mofes , and elfewhere for the Patriarch Jacob. Laftly, all people 

 know, that the Romans and Terfians girt themfelves about with long Clothes. 

 Befides^ the Jews were ftri&ly bound to obferve Circumcifion, without which 

 they were not accounted Je^>s y which the Brafilians ufe not, as neither their 

 Language or Letters. How is it poffible , that in America they fliould at once 

 have forgotten their Extract, Laws, Circumcifion, Language, and other Ce- 

 > remonies, when the reft of tfeem obferv'd nothing more ftri&ly in all parts of 

 the Earth ? 



The Learned Hugo Orotius, in his Enquiry after the original of the Jmericans, JXTi^t^o 

 brings them witlrmany Circumftanccs to belong to Panama, fituate oppofite to K ™" ; ' 

 the Northern Parts of Nortt^becaufe fomething of their Languages agrees,and 

 the Way thither eafie and neareft to be fourtd ; for firft they traveled from Kon 



