10 
America, I have attempted to keep ao 
equal tenor between the two methods fol- 
lowed by those learned men, who have 
investigated the monuments, the languages, 
and the traditions of nations. Some, 
allured by splendid hypotheses, built on 
very unstable foundations, have drawn ge- 
neral consequences from a small number of 
solitary facts : they have discovered Chinese 
and Egyptian colonies in America ; recog- 
nized Celtic dialects and the Phenician 
alphabet ; and, while we are ignorant whe- 
ther the Osci, the Goths, or the Celts, are 
nations emigrated from Asia, have given a 
decisive opinion on the origin of all the 
hordes of the New Continent. Others 
have accumulated materials without gene- 
ralizing any idea ; which is a method, as 
sterile in traeing the history of a nation, as 
in delineating the different branches of 
natural philosophy. May I have been 
happy enough to avoid the errors, which I 
have now pointed out ! A small number 
of nations, far distant from each other, the 
