would have led a people in such a situation, te any improvements, until necessity should have introduced agriculture; and forced them to become husbandmen, instead of remaining hun ters. SUCH were the disadvantages attending the savage state. They appear to have been inseparably connected with it; And of such a nature, as to prevent the improvement, progress, or increase of society. We need not hesitate to pronounce, that these disadvantages far exceeded any advantages that could attend it; and operated with a certain and fatal tendency, to continue man in a state of infancy, weakness, and the greatest imperfection. The freedom to which it led, was its greatest blessing; but the independence of which the savage was so fond, was never designed for man: And it is only in the improvements of civil society, that the human race can find the greatest increase of their numbers, knowledge, safety, and happiness. CHAPTER VIII. ORIGINAL INHABITANTS. Observations on the Origin of the Indians, their Antiquity, Progress of Society, and Tendency to Dissolu tion. THE Man of America differed in so many respects from the men of other countries, that it has been made a question among some of the modern philosophers, whether he was originally derived from the same parents as the white men; or ought to be considered as a different race, from the men of other countries. No inquiries have the appearance of greater difficulties than those, which relate to the origin, and antiquity of the American Indians. Without attempting to resolve all the questions that have been proposed upon these subjects, it may be of use to collect some of the facts that seem to relate to them, and to note the conclusions to which they lead. ORIGIN. In whatever manner this part of the earth was peopled, the Indian or the Red Man, seems to have been the most ancient, or the original man of America. This race were by far the most numerous; and they had spread over the whole continent, from about the fiftieth degree of north latitude to the southern extremity of Cape Horn. This vast extent of country, including all the variety of climates, was settled with the red men: And these men, every where appeared to be the same race, or kind of people, In every part of the continent, the Indians were marked with a similarity of colour, features, and every circumstance of external appearance. Pedro de Cieca de Leon, who was one of the conquerors of Peru, and had travelled through many provinces of America, gives this account of the inhabitants: "The people, men and women, although there is such a multitude of tribes or nations as to be almost innumerable, and such diversity of climates, appear nevertheless like the children of one father and mother."* Ulloa, an able philosopher, and an accurate observer, visited and observed many of the Indian tribes and nations, of South America: He observed also the Indians at Cape Breton, in North America; and saith of the latter, that they were the same people with the Indians of Peru, resembling them in complexion, in manners, and in customs; the only visible difference, being, that the Indians at Cape Breton, were of a larger stature than those at Peru. "If we have seen one American," saith he, "we may be said to have seen them all, their colour and make are so nearly the same." And it is worthy of remark, that no nation or people upon the earth, ever have spread over so large a tract of country, as these red men of America. WERE these men the same people with the inhabitants of the other parts of the globe? Or did they radically differ from the men of all oth. er countries? 1. They were of the same complexion, with the most ancient nation in Asia. From authentic documents, we are able to trace the existence, and national transactions of the Robertson's Hist. America, Vol. II. p. 462. note 45. Hindoos, to an higher antiquity, than we can find with certainty in any other nation. These were the Indians, or red men of Asia. And the Indians of both continents, are marked with the same peculiarity of colour. The distinguishing colour of the Indian, is red, or rather a reddish brown; resembling, but more dark than a copper colour. From this similarity of complexion, it is natural to conjecture, that the Indian of Asia and of America belonged to the same family. 2. The features and countenance of the American Indians, very much resemble those of another of the nations of Asia, the Tar tars. Of The Tartars join upon India, are spread over the northern parts of Asia, and extend to the eastern coasts of the Pacific ocean. their appearance and countenance, geographers give us this account: "They are in general strong made, stout men: Their faces broad, their noses fattish, their eyes small and black, but very quick."* The Indians of America are thus described, by those who had lived long among them: them: "The limbs are well turned, the body of just proportion, the countenance broad, their nose flat, their eyes black, small, but capable of discerning objects at a great distance."+ If these descriptions had been taken from the same individual, there could not have been a greater agreement, in every circumstance of aspect and countenance. 3. Some information respecting the descent of nations, may also be derived from their customs. Those customs and manners which arise Guthrie's Geog. p. 660. Ulloa's and Pinto's account. Robertson's Hist. Amer. I, 460. from the wants, desires, and inclinations, pecu. liar to situation and employment, will be the same in the same state of society. A hunter in Asia, and a hunter in America, will have nearly the same character, the same occupations, pursuits, and manners. But those customs which do not arise from situation, or from any natural want or desire, may be termed arbitrary: And the probability is, that two nations would not agree in these, unless they were derived from the one to the other. Several of these arbitrary customs, were common to the men of Asia and America. ONE of these customs, was that of extracting their beards with the rcots. The Tartars and the Americans, had both adopted this practice. Both of them appeared either wholly without a beard, or only with a few scattered hairs And both of them made it their practice to extract or pluck them out with the roots. Something of the same kind is practised by the Chinese. The Tartar and the American had both contracted the same wandering or roving disposi tion, contrary to the customs and dispositions of most nations; who seldom have any disposition to desert their connexions and country, until they are compelled to it by necessity or force. They had both adopted the same method of war; wasting, destroying, and burning a country. The custom of scalping the dead, was one of the barbarous habits the Scythians practised. They cut a circle round the necks of those which they had slain, stripped off the skin, and carried it with them in triumph. In their marches, the Kamtschatkans never went |