420 A M E 
mention that fome of them are of a ferocious difpofition, 
and very unlikely to be felefted for companions on a long 
voyage, to people a new country, there is another (till 
greater difficulty : as they could not have been conduced 
over the feas and countries of the north, on account of 
the cold, they mud have been tranfported from the warm 
countries of the old, to the warm countries of the new, 
world, over a fea fubjeft to a clime not dilTimilar to the 
native country of thofe quadrupeds, that is, by the coun¬ 
tries of the fouthern parts of Ada, to about the fame la¬ 
titudes in America, over the Indian and Pacific oceans; 
or from the weftern countries of Africa, to the eadern 
countries of America, over the Atlantic ocean. If, there¬ 
fore, men tranfported thofe animals from the one to the 
other world, they did it acrofs thofe feas. But was this 
navigation accidental or defigned ? If the former, how, 
and why, did they carry fo many animals with them? If 
the latter, if they were determined to pafs from the old 
to the new continent, who gave them intelligence of the 
new world? Who (hewed them the fituation of thofe 
countries? Kow did they venture to crofs fuch vad feas 
without a compafs? In what velfelsdid they pafs ? If they 
landed there happily, why does there not remain, among 
the Americans, fome memory of their condru6tions ? But 
it is needlefs to dart more objections; thefe already men¬ 
tioned can never be anfwered. 
Belides, in the torrid zone, and the warm climates that 
border upon it, in the new world, crocodiles are common 
animals which require a hot or temperate climate, and 
live alternately on land or in fweet water: how did fuch 
animals pafs there ? Not by the north ; they could not 
■endure the cold. No one will believe they were tranfport¬ 
ed by men : or that they fwam thither 2000 miles through 
an ocean of fait water. There remains no other folution 
but that of admitting an ancient union between the equi¬ 
noctial countries of America and thofe of Africa; and a 
connexion of the northern countries of America with 
Europe on the eaft, and Afia on the weft: fo that there 
has probably been a period, fince the flood, when there was 
but one continent. The beads of cold climes paded over 
the northern idhmufles, which probably connected Eu¬ 
rope, America, and Afia; and the animals and reptiles pe¬ 
culiar to hot countries paflTed over the ifihmus that con¬ 
nected South America with Africa. For the reafons al¬ 
ready mentioned induce us to believe that there was for¬ 
merly a tract of land, which united the mod eadern part 
of Brazil to the mod wefiern part of Africa; and that all 
the fpace of land may have been funk by violent earth¬ 
quakes, leaving only force traces of it in that chain of 
illands of which Cape de Verd, Fernando, de Norona, 
Afcenfion, and St. Matthew’s, iflands, make apart; and 
alfo in thofe many fand-banks difcovered by different na¬ 
vigators, and particularly by de Bauche, who founded 
that fea with great exaClnefs. Thefe iflands and fand- 
banks may, probably, have been the highed parts of that 
i'unken ifihmus. In like manner it is probable the norfh- 
wedern part of America was united to the north-eadern 
part of Afia by a neck of land which has been funk or 
waffled away, and the north-eadern parts of America to 
the north-wedern parts of Europe, by Greenland, Ice¬ 
land, &c. 
On the whole, we cannot but believe that the quadru¬ 
peds and reptiles of the new world pafled there by land, 
and by different routes, from the old continent. All other 
fuppofitions are fubjeCt to heavy difficulties; and this is 
not without fome, which however are not altogether in- 
furmountable. The greated is the improbability of an 
earthquake fo great as to (ink a fpace of land for more 
than 1500 miles in length, which, according to our fup- 
pofition, united Africa and South America. But we do 
not aferibe this dupendous revolution to a fingle (flock ; it 
may have been edeCted by a fucceflion of earthquakes, fi- 
milar to thofe which lately happened in Calabria. It is 
well known that they are common in the climates where 
7.0 .fuppofe the ifihmus to have been. It is not impoflible 
1 I C A. 
nor improbable, that fuch an effect fhould be produced 
by earthquakes, nor is hiltory unfurnifhed with fuch ex¬ 
amples to our purpofe. The earthquake which was felt 
in Canada in 1663, overwhelmed a chain of mountains of 
free-done more than 300 miles long, and the whole of 
that immenfe traft was changed into a plain. How great 
then mud have been the convullion which was occafioned 
by thofe extraordinary earthquakes, mentioned in the hif- 
tories of America, when the world was thought to be 
coming to an end! 
It may farther be objected to this fydem, that, if beads 
paded by land from one continent to the other, it is not 
eafy to aflign thecaufe why fome fpecies palled there with¬ 
out leaving a fingle individual in the old continent; and, 
on the contrary, that fome entire fpecies fhould remain in 
the old continent, and not a (ingle individual of them pafs 
to America. But this objection operates with equal force 
againd all other opinions, except that which employs an¬ 
gels in the tranfportation of beads. But, fuppofe it did 
not, we have a fatisfaefory anfwer to it. All the quadru¬ 
peds of the earth are not yet known ; we cannot therefore 
fay how many are in the one which are not in the other 
continent. The knowledge of the bed-informed zoolo- 
gids is very imperfect, and they differ among themfelves. 
The count de Buifon numbers only 200 fpecies of quadru¬ 
peds; Bomare, who wrote a little after him, makes them 
265 ; but to fay how many more there may be, and of what 
kinds they are, until we have examined the interior regions 
ot Africa, of a great part of Tartary, the country of the 
Amazons, and the vad territory wed of the Midiffippi, 
and various other unexplored and extenfive countries, 
which together conditute a great part of the whole globe, 
would be mere conjecture. No argument, therefore, can 
be inferred from the difference of the animals in the two 
continents againd our fydem, till the animals in thefe un¬ 
explored regions (hall have been examined. We have 
dwelt the longer on this fubjeCt, as it mud be intereding 
to every inquifitive mind, and the difeudion of it is blended 
with much ufeful information. 
Having dated the prefent population of America, from 
the bed data we could find, and given the mod probable 
accounts of the manner in which it was originally peopled, 
we (flail now deferibe the character, manners, &c. of its 
inhabitants. 
The prefent Americans, whofe number we have reck¬ 
oned at about 60 millions, may be divided into two general 
clades. Fird, the proper Americans, commonly called 
Indians, fometimes Aborigines, or thofe who are defeend- 
ed from the fird inhabitants of the new world, and who 
have not mixed their blood with the inhabitants of the old 
continent. Secondly, thofe who have migrated, or have 
been tranfported to America, fince its dil'covery by Co¬ 
lumbus, and their defendants. The former may be fub- 
divided into three clades; fird, the South American In¬ 
dians, who came over in the manner we have fuppofed, 
from the northern and wefiern parts of Africa, and the 
fouthern parts of Afia and Europe. Secondly, the Mexi¬ 
cans and all the Indians fouth of the lakes and wed of the 
Millillippi. Thirdly, the inhabitants of Efquimaux, La¬ 
brador, and the countries around them. The latter may 
alfo be didinguifhed into three clades: Fird, Europeans of 
many diderent nations, who have migrated to America, 
and their defeendants, of unmixed blood. In this clafs 
we include the Spaniards, Englifh, Scotch, lrifii, French, 
Portuguefe, Germans, Dutch, Swedes, &c. both in North 
and South America. Secondly, Africans, who have been 
tranfported to America and its idands, and their defeend¬ 
ants. Thirdly, the mixed breeds, called by the Spaniards 
Cajfas, by the Engliffl Mulattoes, that is, thofe who are 
defended from an European and an American, or from an 
European and African, or from an African and American. 
Leaving the fecond clafs, viz. the migrants to America 
fince its difovery by Columbus, and their defendants, to 
be defcribed when we fhall treat of the countries they re- 
fpeftivcly inhabit, we fhall, under this article, confine 
ourfelves 
