Among the people of Ceylon, there is a tradition, that a similar irruption of the sea separated their island from the peninsula of India; the same thing is believed by those of Malabar, with respect to the Maldivian isles; and by the Malayans, with respect to Sumatra. 8. The count de Buffon is certain, that in Ceylon the earth has lost 30 or 40 leagues, taken from it by the sea. The same author asserts, that Louisiana has only been formed by the debris of rivers. Pliny, Seneca, Diodorus, and others, report innumerable examples of similar revolutions. 9. In the strait which separates America from Asia, many islands are found, which are supposed to be the mountainous parts of land, formerly swallowed up by earthquakes; which appears the more probable, by the multitude of volcanoes, now known in the peninsula of Kamtschatka. It is imagined, however, that the sinking of that land and the separation of the two continents, have been occasioned by those great earthquakes mentioned in the history of the Americans; which formed an era almost as memorable as that of the deluge. We can form no conjecture of the time mentioned in the histories of Toltecas, or of the year I. Tecpatl, when that great calamity happened. 10. If a great earthquake should overwhelm the isthmus of Suez, and there should be at the same time as great a scarcity of historians as there was in the first age of the deluge, it would be doubted in three or four hundred years after, whether Asia had ever been united by that part to Africa; and many would firmly deny it. 11. Whether that great event, the separation of the continents, took place before or after the population of America, it is impossible to determine: but we are indebted to the above mentioned navigators, for settling the long dispute about the point from which it was effected. Their observations prove, that in one place the distance between continent and continent is only thirty-nine miles: and in the middle of this narrow strait there are two islands, which would greatly facilitate the passage of the Asiatics into the New World, supposing it took place in canoes, after the convulsion which rent the two continents asunder. 12. It may also be added, that these straits are, even in summer, often filled with ice; in winter frozen over, so as to admit a passage for mankind, and by which quadrupeds might easily cross, and stock the continent. But where, from the vast expanse of the north-eastern world, to fix on the first tribes who contributed to people the new continent, now inhabited from end to end, is a matter that has baffled human reason. The learned may make bold and ingenious conjectures, but plain good sense cannot always accede to them. 13. As mankind increased in numbers, they naturally protruded one another forward. Wars might be another cause of migrations. No reason appears, why the Asiatic north might not be an officina vivorum as well as the European. The overteeming country to the east of the Riphean mountains, must have found it necessary to discharge its inhabitants: the first great increase of people were forced forwards by the next to it; at length reaching the utmost limits of the Old World, they found a new one, with ample space to occupy unmolested for ages: till Columbus, in an evil hour for them, discovered their country; which brought again new sins and new deaths to both worlds. It is impossible, with the lights which we have so recently received, to admit, that America could receive its inhabitants, that is the bulk of them, from any other place than eastern Asia. A few proofs may be added, taken from the customs or dresses, common to the inhabitants of both worlds. Some have been long extinct in the old, others remain in both in full force. 14. The custom of scalping was a barbarism in use with the Scythians, who carried about them at all times this savage mark of triumph. A little image found among the Calmucs, of a Tartarian deity, mounted on a horse, and sitting on a hu man skin with scalps pendent from the breast, fully illustrates the custom of the ancient Scythians, as described by the Greek historian. This usage, we well know by horrid experience, is continued to this day in America. The ferocity of the Scythians to their prisoners, extended to the remotest part of Asia. The Kamtschatkans, even at the time of their discovery by the Russians, put their prisoners to death by the most lingering and excruciating torments; a practice now in full force among the aboriginal Americans. A race of the Scythians were named Anthropophagi, from their feeding on human flesh: the people of Nootka Sound make a repast on their fellow creatures. 15. The savages of North America have been known to throw the mangled limbs of their prisoners into the horrible caldron, and devour them with the same relish as those of a quadruped. The Kamtschatkans in their marches never went abreast, but followed one another in the same track: a similar custom is still observed by the uncultivated natives of North America. The Tungusi, the most numerous nation resident in Siberia, prick their skins with small punctures, in various shapes, with a needle: then rub them with charcoal, so that the marks become indelible: this custom is still observed in several parts of South America. 16. The Tungusi use canoes made of birch bark, distended over ribs of wood, and nicely put together: the Canadian, and many other primitive American nations, use no other sort of boats. In fine, the conjectures of the learned, respecting the vicinity of the Old and New World, are now, by the discoveries of late navigators, lost in conviction: and in the place of an imaginary hypothesis, the place of migration is almost incontrovertibly pointed out. 17. This vast country extends from the 80th degree of north to the 56th degree of south latitude: and from the 6th to the 136th degree of west longitude from London, extending nearly nine thousand miles in length, and its greatest breadth three thousand six hundred and ninety; it embraces both hemispheres, has two summers and two winters, and enjoys all the variety of climates which the earth affords. It is washed by two great oceans: to the eastward it has the Atlantic, which separates it from Europe and Africa; to the west it has the Pacific or Great South Sea, separating it from Asia. By these seas it carries on a direct commerce with the other three parts of the World. 18. Next to the extent of the New World, the grand objects which it presents to the view, must forcibly strike the eye of an observer. Nature seems to have carried on her operations upon a larger scale, and with a bolder hand, and to have distinguished the features of this country by a peculiar magnificence. The mountains of America are much superior in height to those in the other divisions of the globe. The most elevated point of the Andes in South America, is twenty-four thousand one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea; which is at least seven thousand higher than the peak of Teneriffe. 19. From the lofty and extensive mountains of America descend rivers, with which the streams of Europe, Asia, or Africa, are not to be compared, either for length, or for the vast bodies of water which they pour into the ocean. The Danube, the Indus, the Ganges, or the Nile are not of equal magnitude with the St. Lawrence, the Missouri, or the Mississippi, in North America; or with the Maranon, the Orinoco, or the La Plata, in South America. 20. The lakes of the New World are not less conspicuous for grandeur than its mountains and rivers. There is nothing, in the other parts of the globe, which resembles the prodigious chain of lakes in North America; they might, with propriety, be termed inland seas of fresh water; even those of the second or third class, are of larger circuit, the Caspian sea excepted, than the greatest lake of the ancient continent. 21. Various causes have been assigned for the remarkable difference between the climate of the New continent and the Old. The opinion of the celebrated Dr. Robertson, on this sub ject, claims our attention. "Though the utmost extent of Ame rica towards the north, be not yet discovered, we know that it advances nearer the pole than either Europe or Asia. The latter have large seas to the north, which are open during part of the year; and even when covered with ice, the wind that blows over them is less intensely cold, than that which blows over land in the same latitudes. But in America, the land stretches from the river St. Lawrence towards the pole, and spreads out immensely to the west. A chain of enormous mountains, cov ered with snow and ice, runs through all this dreary region The wind passing over such an extent of high and frozen land, becomes so impregnated with cold, that it acquires a piercing keenness, which it retains in its progress through warmer cli mates; and is not entirely mitigated, until it reaches the gulf of Mexico. Over all the continent of North America, a northwesterly wind and excessive cold, are terms synonymous. Even in the most sultry weather, the moment that the wind veers to that quarter, its penetrating influence is felt in a transition from heat to cold no less violent than sudden. To this powerful cause we may ascribe the extraordinary dominion of cold, and its violent inroads into the southern provinces in that part of the globe." 22. Of the manners and customs of the North Americans, the following is the most consistent account that can be collected from the best informed, and most impartial writers. When the Europeans first arrived in America, they found the Indians almost in a state of nudity, except those parts which the most uncultivated savages usually conceal. Since that time, however, they generally use a coarse blanket, which they obtain of the neighboring planters, in exchange for furs and other ar ticles. Their huts are made of stakes of wood driven into the ground, and covered with branches of trees or reeds. They lie on the floor, either on mats, or the skins of wild beasts. 23. Their dishes are of wood, and their spoons of the skulls of wild oxen, and sometimes of laurel, a hardy wood, very suitable for the purpose; their knives and hatchets are made of flint or other stone. A kettle, and a large plate, constitute almost the whole utensils of the family. Their diet consists chiefly of what they procure by hunting; and sagamite, or pottage, is likewise one of the most common kinds of food. The most honorable furniture amongst them is a collection of the scalps of their enemies: with these they ornament their huts, which are esteemed in proportion to the number of this horrid sort of spoils. 24. The character of the Indians is only to be known by their circumstances and way of passing through life. Constantly employed in procuring a precarious subsistence, by hunting wild animals, and often engaged in war, it cannot be expected that they enjoy much gaiety of temper, or a high flow of spirits. They are therefore generally grave, approaching to sadness: they have none of that giddy vivacity, peculiar to some nations of Europe, but despise it. Their behavior to those about them is regular, modest, and respectful. They seldom speak but when they have something important to observe: and all their actions, words, and even their looks, are attended with some meaning. 25. Their subsistence depends entirely on what they procure with their hands; and their lives, their honor, and every thing dear to them, may be lost by the smallest inattention to the designs of their enemies. As no particular object has power to attach them to one place, more than another, they go wherever the necessaries of life can be procured in the greatest abundance. The different tribes, or nations, when compared with civilized societies, are extremely small. These tribes often live at an immense distance; they are separated by a desert frontier, and hid in the bosom of impenetrable woods, and almost boundless forests. 26. There is in each society a certain kind of government which, with very little deviation, prevails over the whole continent; their manners, and way of life, are nearly similar and uniform. An Indian has no method by which he can render himself considerable among his companions, but by his personal accomplishments, either of body or mind; but as nature has not been very lavish in these distinctions, where all enjoy the same education, all are pretty much upon an equality, and will desire to remain so. 27. Liberty is therefore the prevailing passion of the American Indians; and their government, under the influence of this sentiment, is perhaps better secured than by the wisest political regulations. They are very far, however, from despising all sort of authority: they are attentive to the voice of wisdom, which experience has conferred on the aged; and they enlist under the banners of the chief, in whose valor and military ad |