from the inhabitants of Caria, and the Hurons from the Jews, he would have done well to have brought back the bottle containing the wits of these reasoners, which he would doubtless have found in the moon, along with those of Angelica's lover. The first thing done when an inhabited island is discovered in the Indian Ocean, or in the South Sea, is to inquire, Whence came these people? but as for the trees and the tortoises, they are, without any hesitation, pronounced to be indigenous; as if it were more difficult for nature to make men than to make tortoises. One thing, however, which seems to countenance this system is, that there is scarcely an island in the eastern or western ocean, which does not contain jugglers, quacks, knaves, and fools. This, it is probable, gave rise to the opinion, that these animals are of the same race with ourselves."

Dr. S. L. Mitchill, of New York, a man who wrote learnedly, if not wisely, on almost every subject, has, in his opinion, like hundreds before him, set the great question, How was America peopled? at rest. He has no doubt but the Indians, in the first place, are of the same color originally as the northeastern nations of Asia, and hence sprung from them. What time he settles them in the country he does not tell us, but gets them into Greenland about the year 8 or 900. Thinks he saw the Scandinavians as far as the shores of the St. Lawrence, but what time this was he does not say. He must of course make these people the builders of the mounds scattered all over the western country. After all, we apprehend the doctor would have short time for his erigrants to do all that nature and art have done touching these matters. In the first place, it is evident that many ages passed away from the time these tumuli were begun until they were finished; 2d, a multitude of ages must have passed since the use for which they were reared has been known for trees of the age of 200 years grow from the ruins of others which must have as great age; and, 3d, no Indian nation or tribe has the least tradition concerning them. This could not have happened, had the ancestors of the present Indians been the erectors of them, in the nature of things.

The learned Doctor Swinton, in a dissertation upon the peopling of America, after stating the different opinions of various authors who have advocated in favor of the "dispersed people," the Phoenicians, and other eastern nations, observes, "that, therefore, the Americans in general were descended from some people who inhabited a country not so far distant from them as Egypt and Phoenicia, our readers will, as we apprehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitched upon so proper and convenient for this purpose as the northeastern part of Asia, particularly Great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the peninsula of Kamtschatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America, and peopled the most considerable part of the new world."

This, it is not to be denied, is the most rational way of getting inhabitants into America, if it must be allowed that it was peopled from the "old world." But it is not quite so easy to account for the exist ence of equatorial animals in America, when all authors agree that

they never could have passed that way, as they never could have survived the coldness of the climate, at any season of the year. Moreover, the vocabulary we have given, if it prove any thing, proves that either the inhabitants of North America did not come in from the northwest, or that, if they did, some unknown cause must have, for ages, suspended all communication between the emigrants and their ances. tors upon the neighboring shores of Asia.

In 1822, there appeared in London a work which attracted some attention, as most works have upon similar subjects. It was entitled, "Description of the ruins of an ancient city, discovered near Palenque, in the kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America; translated from the original manuscript report of Capt. Don Antonio Del Rio, followed by a critical investigation and research into the history of the Americans, by Dr. Paul Felix Cabrera, of the city of New Guatemala."

Captain Del Rio was ordered by the Spanish king, in the year 1786, to make an examination of whatever ruins he might find, which he accordingly did. From the manuscript he left, which afterwards fell into the hands of Doctor Cabrera, his work was composed, and is that part of the work which concerns us in our view of systems or conjec tures concerning the peopling of America. We shall be short with this author, as his system differs very little from some which we have already sketched. He is very confident that he has settled the question how South America received its inhabitants, namely, from the Phoenicians, who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and that the ruined city described by Captain Del Rio was built by the first adventurers.

Doctor Cabrera calls any system, which, in his view, does not harmonise with the Scriptures, an innovation upon the "holy Catholic religion;" and rather than resort to any such, he says, "It is better to believe his [God's] works miraculous, than endeavour to make an ostentatious display of our talents by the cunning invention of new sys. tems, in attributing them to natural causes." The same reasoning will apply in this case as in a former. If we are to attribute every thing to miracles, wherefore the necessity of investigation? These authors are fond of investigating matters in their way, but are displeased if others take the same liberty. And should we follow an author in his theories, who cuts the whole business short by declaring all to be a miracle, when he can no longer grope in the labyrinth of his own forming? Our reader would be just in condemning such waste of time. When every thing which we cannot at first sight understand or comprehend must not be inquired into, from superstitious doubts, then and there will be fixed the bounds of all science; but, as Lord Byron said upon another occasion, "not till then."

"If it be allowed, (says Dr. Lawrence,) that all men are of the same species, it does not follow that they are all descended from the same family. We have no data for determining this point: it could indeed only be settled by a knowledge of facts, which have long ago been involved in the impenetrable darkness of antiquity." That climate has nothing to do with the complexion, he offers the following in proof:"The establishments of the Europeans in Asia and America have

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now subsisted about three centuries. Vasquez de Gama landed at Calicut in 1498; and the Portuguese empire in India was founded in the beginning of the following century. Brazil was discovered and taken possession of by the same nation in the very first year of the 16th century. Towards the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, Columbus, Cortez, and Pizarro, subjugated for the Spaniards the West Indian islands, with the empires of Mexico and Peru. Sir Walter Raleigh planted an English colony in Virginia in 1584; and the French settlement of Canada has rather a later date. The colonists have, in no instance, approached to the natives of these countries; and their descendants, where the blood has been kept pure, have, at this time, the same characters as native Europeans."

The eminent antiquary, De Witt Clinton, supposed that the ancient works found in this country were similar to those supposed to be Roman by Pennant in Wales. He adds, "The Danes, as well as the nations which erected our fortifications, were in all probability of Scythian origin. According to Pliny, the name of Scythian was common to all the nations living in the north of Asia and Europe."

CHAPTER III.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA.

As early as 1508, the natives of North America began to be carried away by voyagers, sometimes by force, and sometimes by flattery. At this early period, one Aubert, a Frenchman, sailed up the river St. Lawrence, and, on his return to France, conveyed off a number of the natives. In 1585, a colony was sent out from England, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, and was settled at Roanoke. This was the first English colony planted in America. Through their misconduct to the natives, and to one another, they found themselves in a miserable condition before the end of a year. Sir Francis Drake, returning that way from a cruise against the Spaniards, gave them a passage to England in his fleet. Just before the arrival of Drake, a chief and many of his men were killed, and afterwards an Indian town was burned, by order of Sir Richard Grenville, who brought supplies to the colonists.

In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed from England, and was the first Englishman that came in a direct course to this part of America. He fell in with the coast near Cape Cod, which he discovered. Being met near the shore, by the natives in their canoes, he was kindly treated by them, and they helped him load his vessels.*

The next year Martin Pring arrived on the coast,† and collected a

Sassafras and furs were then the articles of exportation.

See Belknap's life of Pring. Sassafras was collected about the islands.

Pring found it on what is now Edgartown.

cargo of Sassafras. The Indians appeared hostile to this company, and caused them to leave the coast sooner than they would otherwise have done. But this was not without a cause. A canoe had been stolen from them, and they were sported with by the sailors, who, to get rid of them, when they had amused themselves sufficiently, would set their dogs to chase them away.

In 1605, Captain George Weymouth carried off five of the natives from the coast of New England, against their consent; one of whom was a chief.

In 1607, the first permanent colony of Virginia arrived in the Chesapeake, the twenty-sixth of April, and the thirteenth of May they took a position for a town; which, soon after, in honor of King James, was named James Town. They were annoyed by the Indians at first, and one person was killed. A peace was concluded in June following, but it was of short duration. An attempt also to settle a colony on Kennebeck river was made this year, but was relinquished the next.

In 1614, Captain John Smith made a profitable voyage to New England, and made an accurate survey of its coast. The New England Indians, in this voyage, were justly incensed against the English, to a great degree. When Smith went for England, he left one Hunt to complete his cargo of fish. This perfidious man enticed twentyfour Indians on board his vessel, put them in confinement, and sold them at Malaga to the Spaniards for slaves. In the course of the year, another vessel came on the coast to trade, with two of those taken off by Hunt to assist in the business. It was now designed to settle a trading house, but the Indians soon discouraged them in the attempt. One of the prisoners had died, and the other was not permitted to go on shore. But some approached the ship under pretence of trade, and he jumped overboard. His friends in the canoes discharged their arrows so thick at the same time, that in defiance of the English guns they got him on board, and paddled off. A number of the English were badly wounded, and some of the Indians killed. The English were discouraged, and sailed for England. Two other natives, carried away by Hunt, found means, in time, to get back to New England, and in some measure allayed the vengeance of their countrymen, by assuring them that the English, in general, were highly displeased at the conduct of Captain Hunt.

These, and many other insults on the Indians, though small in comparison with those suffered by their race in South America, were more than enough to cause them to entertain fearful apprehensions of every stranger.

Before 1619, perhaps it would have been altogether impracticable to have attempted a settlement in New England, previous to this time. The natives, before which, were extremely numerous and warlike; but this year a mortal sickness prevailed among them, that almost entirely desolated the country; insomuch, that the living could not bury the dead. For when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, the ground was strewed with human bones. The extent of this pestilence was from Penobscot to Narraganset.

Origin of the Settlement of New England.-Bigotry and superstition began to lose some ground in England, as early as 1550. And the persecutions and sufferings of the early martyrs of religious freedom have been the subject of many massy volumes. In 1549, a liturgy had been prepared by the bishops, and a law passed both houses of Parliament, "that all divine offices should be performed according to it." The clergy were ordered to conform to the liturgy, under pain of fines and imprisonment. And, as has always since been the case, among all sects, the new sect, then denominated Puritans, grew more numerous, in proportion as the severity of persecution increased.

In 1607, a congregation fled from England into Holland, and in 1608, were joined by others, and a church was there established, according, as they believed, to the principles of the primitive church of Christ; having Mr. John Robinson for their pastor. Their removal from England into Holland was attended with the greatest difficulties, and though overlooked by the chief historians, who have written upon their history, is certainly among the first articles that should be related. It formed a part of a Manuscript History, written by Mr. William Bradford, one of their number, which, though since lost, was in possession of Governor Hutchinson, who copied this valuable part. into his "summary of the affairs of the colony of New Plymouth,” which is as follows.

"There was a large company of them proposed to get passage at Boston in Lincolnshire, and for that end had hired a ship wholly to themselves, and made agreement with the master to be ready at a certain day, and take them and their goods in at a convenient place, where accordingly they would all attend in readiness. So, after long waiting and large expense, though he kept not the day with them, yet he came at length and took them in, in the night. But when he had them and their goods aboard he betrayed them, having beforehand complotted with the searchers and other officers so to do, who took them and put them into open boats, and then rifled and ransacked them, searching them to their shirts for money, yea, even the women, further than became modesty, and then carried them back into the town, and made them a spectacle and wonder to the multitude, which came flocking on all sides to behold them. Being thus first, by the catch-poles, rifled and stript of their money, books, and much other goods, they were presented to the magistrates, and messengers sent to inform the lords of the council of them, and so they were committed to ward. Indeed the magistrates used them courteously, and showed them what favor they could, but could not deliver them till order came from the council table; but the issue was, that after a month's imprisonment, the greatest part were dismissed, and sent to the places from whence they came, but seven of the principal men were still kept in prison and bound over to the assizes. The next spring after, there was another attempt made, by some of these and others, to get over at another place. And so it fell out, that they heard of a Dutchman