A M E R I C A. 
418 
names, true or falfe, of their firft progenitors, who, after 
the confufion of languages, feparated from the reft of 
mankind. Thefe traditions, with many otliers, conlidered 
in connection with the facred w ritings, muft convince 'us 
that we ought to feek among thedefcendants of Noah for 
the firft peoplers of America. 
But who w'ere they ? To recite all the opinions given in 
anfwer to this queftion, would lead us far beyond the limits 
of our plan. Dr. Robertfon and the abbe Clavigero have 
extenfively and learnedly inveftigated the fubject; and w e 
cannot expect to afford the reader more fatisfaCtion than 
to give him the refult of their enquiries. Dr. Robertfon, 
having recapitulated and canvaffed the moft plaufible opi¬ 
nions on the fubjeCt, comes to the following concluiions: 
America, he fays, was not peopled by any nation from 
the ancient continent which had made any confiderable 
progrefs in civilization; becaufe, when America was firft 
difcovered, its inhabitants were unacquainted with the ne- 
ceffary arts of life, which are the firft effays of the human 
mind toward improvement; and if they had ever been 
acquainted w ith them, for inftance, the plough, the loom, 
and the forge, their utility would have been fo great and 
obvious, that it is impoflibte they fliould have been loft. 
Therefore the anceftors of the firft fettlers in America 
were uncivilized and unacquainted with the necefTary arts 
of life. 
America could not have been peopled by any colony 
from the more fouthern nations of the ancient continent; 
becaufe none of the rude tribes of thefe parts poffefted 
enterprize, ingenuity, or power, fufficient to undertake 
fuch a diftant voyage: but more efpecially, becaufe, that 
in all America there is not an animal, tame or wild, which 
properly belongs to the warm or temperate countries of 
the eaftern continent. The firft care of the Spaniards, 
when they fettled in America, was to ftock it with all the 
domeftic animals of Europe. The firft fettlers of Virgi¬ 
nia and New England brought over with them horfes, 
cattle, fheep, &c. Hence it is obvious that the people w'ho 
firft fettled in America did not originate from thole coun¬ 
tries where thefe animals abound, otherwife, having been 
accuftomed to their aid, they would have fuppofed them 
necefTary to the improvement, and even fupport, of civil 
fociety. And fince the animals in the northern regions of 
America correfpond with thofe found in Europe in the 
fame latitudes, w hile thofe in the tropical regions are in¬ 
digenous, and widely different from thofe which inhabit 
the correfponding regions on the eaftern continent, it is 
more than probable that all the original American animals 
were of thofe kinds which inhabit northern regions only, 
and that the two continents, towards the northern extre¬ 
mity, are fo nearly united as that thefe animals might pafs 
from one to the other. 
It having been eftabliflted beyond a doubt, by the dif- 
coveries of Capt. Cook in his laft voyage, that at Kamt- 
lchatka, in about latitude 66° north, the continents of Alia 
and America are feparated by a ftrait only eighteen miles 
wide, and that the inhabitants on each continent are limi- 
lar, and frequently pafs and repafs in canoes from one 
continent to the other; from thefe and other circumftances 
it is rendered highly probable, that America was firft peo¬ 
pled from the north-eaft parts of Alia. But fince the Ef- 
quimaux Indians are manifeftly a feparate fpeciesof men, 
diftindl from all the nations of the American continent, in 
'language, in difpofition, and in habits of life; and in all 
thefe refpefts bear a near refemblance to the northern 
Europeans, it is believed that the Efquimaux Indians emi¬ 
grated from the north-weft parts of Europe. Several 
circumftances confirm this belief. As early as the ninth 
century the Norwegians difcovered Greenland, and plant¬ 
ed colpnies there. The communication with that country, 
after long interruption, was renewed in the laft century. 
Some Lutheran and Moravian milTionaries, prompted by 
zeal for propagating the Chriftian faith, have ventured to 
lettle in this frozen region. From them we learn, that 
the nprth-weft coal! of Greenland is feparated from Ame¬ 
rica but by a very narrow ftrait, if feparated at all; and 
that the Efquimaux of America perfectly refemble the 
Greenlanders in their afpecT, drefs, mode of living, and 
probably language. By thefe decifive facts, not only the 
confanguinity of the Efquimaux and Greenlanders is 
eftablifhed, but the poffibility of peopling America from 
the north-weft parts of Europe. On the whole, it ap¬ 
pears rational to conclude, that the progenitors of all the 
American nations, from Cape Horn to the fouthern limits 
of Labrador, from the fimilarity of their afpeit, colour, 
&c. migrated from the north-eaft parts of Afia; and that 
the nations that inhabit Labrador, Efquimaux, and tire 
parts adjacent, from their unlikenefs to the American.na¬ 
tions, and their refemblance to the northern Europeans, 
came over from the north-weft parts of Europe. 
Such is the opinion of Dr. Robertfon, on the queftion 
before us; and, for want of information, it is in feveral 
refpefts inaccurate and without foundation. The opinion 
of the abbe Clavigero, who was a native of America, and 
had much better advantages for knowing its hiftory than 
Dr. Robertfon, and who alfo is a later writer, is far lefs 
exceptionable, and has much better grounds for its fup¬ 
port. He explains his opinion in the following concluiions : 
The Americans are defcended from different nations, or 
from different families difperfed after the confufion of 
tongues. No perfon will doubt of the truth of this who 
has any knowledge of the multitude and great diverfity of 
the American languages. In Mexico alone thirty-five 
have already been difcovered. In- South America ftiil 
more are known. In the beginning of the laft century 
the Portuguefe counted fifty in Maragnon. Between fome 
of thefe languages, there is indeed a great affinity ; but 
others are as different from each other as the Englifh and 
the Hebrew. It isa truth, that no living or dead langua¬ 
ges can differ more than the languages of the Mexicans, 
Otomies, Tarafcas, Mayas, and Miztecns, five languages 
prevailing in different provinces of Mexico. It would 
therefore be abfurd to fay, that languages fo different were 
different dialers of one original. Is it probable, or even 
poffible, that a nation fhowld alter its primitive language 
to fuch a degree, or multiply its dialefts fo varioufly, as 
that there Ihould not be, even after many centuries, if not 
fome words common to all, at leaf! an affinity between 
them, or fome traces left of their origin i 
The Americans do not derive their origin from any 
people now exifting as a nation on the eaftern continent; 
at leaft there is no reafon to affirm that they do. This 
inference is founded on the fame argument with the pre¬ 
ceding; lince, if the Americans are defcendants from any 
of thefe nations, it would be poffible to trace their origin 
by fome marks in their languages, in fpite of the antiquity 
of their feparation: but any fuch traces have not yet been 
difcovered, although moft diligent and attentive fearch Iras 
been made, as appears from the work of Dominican Gar¬ 
cia. We have, fays Clavigero, leifurely compared the 
Mexican and other American languages with many others 
which are now living, and with thofe which are dead, 
but have not been able to difcover the leaft affinity between 
them. This argument is ftrong with refpeft to the Ame¬ 
ricans, as they (hew great firmnefs and conftancy in retain¬ 
ing their languages. The Mexicans preferve their lan¬ 
guage among the Spaniards, and the Otomies retain their 
difficult dialeft among the Spaniards and Mexicans, after 
communication with both for more than two centuries 
and an half. 
If the Americans defcended from different families dif¬ 
perfed foon after the confufion of tongues, as we believe, 
and have fince been feparated from thofe others who peo¬ 
pled the countries on the eaftern continent, authors will 
labour in vain to feek, in the language or cuftoms of the 
Aiiatics, for the origin of the people of America. But 
the moft difficult point in the problem of the population 
of America remains to be folved, and that is, how did 
the inhabitants and animals originally pafs to America, 
and from what parts did they come f Among the various 
a opinions 
