|
246
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
of heat to counterbalance the natural frigidity of the soil and climate. * At the Cape of Good Hope, several of the
plants and fruits peculiar to the countries within the tropics, are cultivated with success; whereas, at St. Augustine,
in Florida, and Charleston, in South-Carolina, though considerably nearer the line, they cannot be brought to thrive
with equal certainty. † But, if allowance be made for this diversity in the degree of heat, the soil of America is
naturally as rich and fertile as in any part of the earth. As the country was thinly inhabited, and by a people of
little industry, who had none of the domestic animals, which civilized nations rear in such vast numbers, the earth
was not exhausted by their consumption. The vegetable productions, to which the fertility of the soil gave birth, often
remained untouched, and being suffered to corrupt on its surface, returned with increase into its bosom. ‡ As
trees and plants derive a great part of their nourishment from air and water, if they were not destroyed by man and
other animals, they would render to the earth more, perhaps, than they take from it, and feed rather than impoverish
it. Thus the unoccupied soil of America may have gone on enriching for many ages. The vast number as well as enormous
size of the trees in America, indicate the extraordinary vigour of the soil in its native state. When the Europeans
first began to cultivate the New World, they were astonished at the luxuriant power of vegetation in its virgin mould;
and in several places the ingenuity of the planter is still employed in diminishing and wasting its superfluous
fertility, in order to bring it down to a state fit for profitable culture. §
§ XV. Having thus surveyed the state of the New World at the time of its discovery, and considered the
peculiar features and qualities which distinguish and
__________
* See Note XXXVIII.
† See Note XXXIX.
‡ Buffon Hist. Nat. i. 242. Kalm, i. 151.
§ Charlevoix, Hist de Nouv. Fran. iii. 405. Voyage du Des
Marchais, iii. 229. Lery ap de Bry, part iii. p. 174. See Note XL.
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
247
characterise it, the next inquiry that merits attention is, How was America peopled ? By what course did mankind
migrate from the one continent to the other? And in what quarter is it most probable that a communication was opened
between them?
§ XVI. We know, with infallible certainty, that ali
the human race spring from the same source, and that
the descendants of one man, under the protection as
well as in obedience to the command of Heaven, multi
plied and replenished the earth. But neither the an
nals nor the traditions of nations reach back to those re
mote ages, in which they took possession of the differ
ent countries, where they are now settled. We cannot
trace the branches of his first family, or point out with
certainty the time and manner in which they divided and
spread over the face of the globe. JEven among the
most enlightened people, the period of authentic histo
ry is extremely short, and every thing prior to that Is
fabulous or obscure. It is not surprising, then, that
the unlettered inhabitants of America, who have no soli
citude about futurity, and little curiosity concerning
what is past, should be altogether unacquainted with
their own original. The people on the two opposite
coasts of America, who occupy those countries in Amer
ica which approach nearest to the ancient continent, are
so remarkably rude, that it is altogether vain to search
among them for such information as might discover the
place from whence they came, or the ancestors of whom
they are descended.* Whatever light has been thrown
on this subject, is derived, not from the natives of Amer
ica, but from the inquisitive genius of their conquerors.
XVII. When the people of Europe unexpectedly dis
covered a New World, removed at a vast distance from
every part of the ancient continent which was then
known, and filled with inhabitants whose appearance and
Manners differed remarkably from the rest of the hu-
* Vanega's Hist, of California, i, 60,
24S HISTORY 01? AMERICA*
man species, the question concerning their original be*
came naturally an object of curiosity and attention. The
theories and speculations of ingenious men with respect
to this subject, would fill many volumes $ but are often
so wild and chimerical, that I should offer an insult to
the understanding of my readers, if I attempted either
minutely to enumerate or to refute them. Some have
presumptuously imagined, that the people of America
were not the offspring of the same common parent with the
rest of mankind, but that they formed a separate race of
Hien, distinguishable by peculiar features in the constitu
tion of their bodie% as well as in the characteristic qual
ities of tkeir minds. Others contend, that they are de
scended from some remnant of the antediluvian inhab^
itants of the earth, who survived the deluge, which
swept away the greatest part of the human species in
the days of Noah ; and preposterously suppose rude un
civilized tribes, scattered over an uncultivated continent^
to be the most ancient race of ^people on the earth.
There is hardly any nation from the north to the south
pole, to which some antiquary, in the extravagance of
conjecture, has not ascribed the honour of peopling
America. The Jews, the Canaanites, the Phosnicians,
the Carthagenians, the Greeks, the Scythians in ancient
times, are supposed to have settled in this western
world. The Chinese, the Swedes, the Norwegians, the
"Welsh, the Spaniards, are said to have 'sent colonies
thither in later ages, at different periods, and on va
rious occasions. Zealous advocates stand forth to sup*
port the respective claims of those people; and though
they rest upon no better foundation than the casual re-
semblance of some customs, or the supposed affinity be
tween a few words in their different languages, much
erudition and more zeal have been employed, to little
purpose, in defence of the opposite systems. Those re*
gions of conjecture and controversy belong not to the
Historian. His is a more limited province, confined to
what is established by certain, or highly probable evi-
HISTORY OF AMERICA* 249
rfence. Beyond this I shall not venture, in offering a
few observations, which may contribute to throw some
light upon this curious and much agitated question.
XVIII. 1. There are authors Avho have endeavour
ed, by mere eo-p'^iires to account for the peopling of
America. Some have supposed that it was originally
united to the ancient continent, and disjointed from it
by the shock of an earthquake, or the irruption of a
deluge. Others have imagined, that some vessel being
forced from its course by the violence of a westerly
wind, might be driven by accident towards the Amer
ican coast, and have given a beginning to population
in that desolate continent.* But with respect to all
those systems, it is vain either to reason or inquire, be
cause it is impossible to come to any decision. Such
events as they suppose are barely possible, and may have
happened. That they ever did happen, we have no evi
dence, either from the clear testimony of history, or
from the obscure intimations of tradition.
XIX. 2. Nothing can be more frivolous or uncer
tain than the attempts to discover the original of the
Americans, merely by tracing the resemblance between
their manners and those of any particular people in the
ancient continent. If we suppose two tribes, though
placed in the most remote regions of the globe, to live
in a climate nearly of the same temperature, to be in
the same state of society, and to resemble each other
in the degree of their improvement, they must feel the
same wants, and exert the same endeavours to supply
them. The same objects will allure, the same passions will
annimate them, and the same ideas and sentiments will
arise in their minds. The character and occupations of
the hunter in America must be little different from those
of an Asiatic, who depends for subsistence on the chase.
A tribe of savages on the banks of the Danube must
* Parson's Remains of Japhet, p. 240. Ancient Univers. Hist,
vol. xx. p. 164. P, Feyjoo Teatro Critico, torn, v. p. 304, etc.
Acosta Hist. Moral. Novi Orbis, lib. i. c. 16, L9.
VOL, T. 32
250 HISTORY OP AMERICA.
nearly resemble one upon the plain washed by the Mis
sissippi. Instead then of presuming from this similari
ty, that there is any affinity between them, we should
only conclude, that the disposition and manners of men
are formed by their situation, and arise from the state
of society in which they live. The moment that begins
to vary, the character of a people must change. In pro
portion as it advances in improvement, their manners
refine, their powers and talents are called forth. In
every part of the earth the progress of man hath been
nearly the same, and we can trace him in his career
from the rude simplicity of savage life, until he attains
the industry, the arts, and the elegance of polished so
ciety. There is nothing wonderful then in the simili
tude between the Americans and the barbarous nations
of our continent. Had Lafitau, Garcia, and many other
authors, attended to this, they would not have perplex
ed a subject which they pretend to illustrate, by their
fruitless endeavours to establish an affinity between va>
rious races of people in the old and new continents, up
on no other evidence than such a resemblance in their
manners as necessarily arises from the similarity of
their condition. There are, it is true, among every
people, some customs which, as they do not flow from
any natural want or desire peculiar to their situation,
may be denominated usages of arbitrary institution. If
between two nations settled in remote parts of the earth,
a perfect agreement with respect to any of these should
be discovered, one might be led to suspect that they
were connected by some affinity. If, for example, a na
tion were found in America that consecrated the seventh
day to religious worship and rest, we might justly sup
pose that it had derived its knowledge of this usage,
which is of arbitrary institution, from the Jews. But,
if it were discovered that another nation celebrated the
first appearance of every new moon with extraordinary
demonstrations of joy, we should not be entitled to con
clude that the observation, of this monthly festival was
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 251
borrowed from the Jews, but ought to consider it mere
ly as the expression of that joy which is natural to man
on the return of the planet which guides and cheers him
in the night. The instances of customs, merely arbi
trary, common to the inhabitants of both hemispheres,
are, indeed, so few and so equivocal, that no theory
concerning the population of the New World ought to
be founded upon them.
XX. 3. The theories which have been formed with re
spect to the orignal of the Americans, from observation
of their religious rites and practices, are no less fanci
ful, and destitute of solid foundation. When the reli
gious opinions of any people are neither the result of
rational inquiry, ner derived from the instructions of
revelation, they must needs be wild and extravagant.
Barbarous nations are incapable of the former, and have
not been blessed with the advantages arising from the
latter. Still, however, the human mind, even where its
operations appear most wild and capricious, holds a
course so regular, that in every age and country the do
minion of particular passions will be attended with sim
ilar effects. The savage of Europe or America, when
filled with superstitious dread of invisible beings, or
with inquisitive solicitude to penetrate into the events of
futurity, trembles alike with fear, or glows with impa
tience. He has recourse to rites and practices of the
same kind, in order to avert the vengeance which he
supposes to be impending over him, or to divine the se
cret which is the object of his curiosity. Accordingly,
the ritual of superstition, in one continent, seems, in
many particulars, to be a transcript of that established
in the other, and both authorize similar institutions,
sometimes so frivolous as to excite pity* sometimes so
bloody and barbarous as to create horrour. But with
out supposing any consanguinity between such distant
nations, or imagining that their religious ceremonies
were conveyed by tradition from the one to the other,
we may ascribe this uniformity, which in many instances
252 HISTORY OF AMERICA*
seems very amazing, to the natural operation of super
stition and enthusiasm upon the weakness of the human
mind.
XXI. 4. We may lay it down as a certain principle
in this inquiry, that America was not peopled by any
nation of the ancient continent, which had made con
siderable progress in civilization. The inhabitants of
the New World were in a state of society so extremely
rude, as to be unacquainted with those arts which are
the first essays of human ingenuity in its advance to
wards improvement. Even the most cultivated nations
of America were strangers to many of those simple in
ventions, which were almost coeval with society in other
parts of the world, and were known in the earliest pe
riod of civil life, with which we have any acquaintance.
From this it is manifest, that the tribes which original
ly migrated to America, came off from nations which
must have been no less barbarous than their posterity,
at the time when they were first discovered by the Eu
ropeans. For, although the elegant and refined arts
may decline or perish, amidst the violent shocks of those
revolutions and disasters to which nations are exposed,
the necessary arts of life, when once they have been in
troduced among any people, are never lost. None of
the vicissitudes in human affairs affect these, and they
continue to be practised as long as the race of men ex
ists. If ever the use of iron had been known to the sa
vages of America, or to their progenitors, if ever they
had employed a plough, a loom, or a forge, the utility of
those inventions would have preserved them* and it is
impossible that they should have been abandoned or for
gotten. We may conclude then, that the Americans
sprung from some people, who were themselves in such
an early and unimproved stage of society, as to be un
acquainted with all those necessary arts, which continu
ed to be unknown among their posterity, when first vis
ited by the Spaniards*,
HISTORY OP AMERICA.
XXII. 5. It appears no less evident that America was
not peopled by any colony from the more southern na
tions of the ancient continent. None of the rude tribes
settled in that part of our hemisphere can be supposed
to have visited a country so remote. They possessed
neither enterprise, ingenuity, nor power, that could
prompt them to undertake, or enable them to perform,
such a distant voyage. That the more civilized nations
in Asia or Africa are not the progenitors of the Ameri
cans is manifest, not only from the observations which
I have already made concerning their ignorance of the
most simple and necessary arts, but from an additional
circumstance. Whenever any people have experienced
the advantages which men enjoy, by their dominion over
the inferiour animals, they can neither subsist without
the nourishment which these aftbrd, nor carry on any
considerable operation independent of their ministry and
labour. Accordingly, the first care of the Spaniards*
when they settled in America? was to stock it with all
the domestic animals of Europe $ and if, prior to them?
the Tyrians, the Carthaginians, the Chinese, or any
other polished people, had taken possession of that con
tinent, we should have found there the animals peculiar
to those regions of the globe where they were originally
seated. In all America, however, there is not one ani*
mal, tame or wild, which properly belongs to the warm,
r even to the more temperate, countries of the ancient
continent. The camel, the dromedary, the horse, the
cow, were as much unknown in America as the elephant
or the lion. From which it is obvious, that the people
who first settled in the western world did not issue from
the countries where those animals abound, and where
men, from having long been accustomed to their aid,
would naturally consider it, not only as beneficial, but,
as indispensably necessary to the improvement, and even
the preservation, of civil society.
$ XXIII. 6. From considering the animals with which
America is stored, we may conclude that the nearest
254 HISTORY or AMERICA;
point of contact, between the old and new continents, is
towards the northern extremity of both, and that there
the communication was opened, and the intercourse car
ried on, between them. All the extensive countries in
America, which lie within the tropics, or approach near
to them, are filled with indigenous animals of various
kinds, entirely different from those in the corresponding
regions of the ancient continent. But the northern pro-
vinces of the New Wrld abound with many of the wild
animals which are common in such parts of our hemis
phere as lie in a similar sHuation. The bear, the wolf,
the fox, the hare, the deer, the roebuck, the elk, and
several x>ther species frequent the forests of North
America, no less than those in the north of Europe and
Asia.* It seems to be evident, then, that the two con
tinents approach each other in this qnarter, and are
either united, or so nearly adjacent, that these animals
might pass fro^ t!te one to the other,
XXIV. 7. The actual vicinity of the two continents
is so clearly established by mordern discoveries, that
the chief difficulty with respect to the peopling of Amer
ica is removed. While those immense regions, which
stretch eastward from the river Oby to the sea of Kam
chatka were unknown, or imperfectly explored, the
north-east extremities of our hemisphere were supposed
to be so far distant from any part of the New World,
that it was not easy to conceive how any communication
should have been carried on between them. But, the
Russians having subjected the western part of Siberia to
their empire, gradually extended their knowledge of that
vast country, by advancing towards the east into un
known provinces. These were discovered by hunters in
their excursions after game, or by soldiers employed in
levying the taxes, and the court of Moscow estimated
the importance of those countries only by the small ad
dition which they made to its revenue. At length Peter
* Buffon Hist. Nat- ix. p. 97, etc.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 255
Oie Great ascended the Russian throne. His enlightened,
comprehensive mind, intent upon every circumstance
that could aggrandize his empire, or render his reign il
lustrious, discerned consequences of those discoveries,
which had escaped the observation of his ignorant pre
decessors. He perceived, that in proportion as the re
gions of Asia extended towards the east, they must ap
proach nearer to America ; that the communication be*
tween the two continents, which had long been searched
for in vain, would probably be found in this quarter, and
that by opening it some part of the wealth and com
merce of the western world might be made to flow into
his dominions by a new channel. Such an object suited
a genius that delighted in grand schemes. Peter drew
up instructions with his own hand for prosecuting this
design, and gave orders for carrying it into execution.*
His successors adopted his ideas, and pursued his
plan. The officers whom the Russian court employed in
this service, had to struggle with so many difficulties,
that their progress was extremely slow. Encouraged
by sonis faint traditions among the people of Siberia,
concerning a successful voyage in the year one thousand
six hundred and forty-eight, round the north-east pro
montory of Asia, they attempted to follow the same
course. Vessels were fitted out, with this view at dif
ferent times, from the rivers Leaa and Kolyma ; but in
a frozen ocean, which nature seems not to have destin
ed for navigation, they were exposed to many disasters,
without being able to accomplish their purpose. No ves
sel fitted out by the Russian court ever doubled this for
midable Cape $| we are indebted for what is known of
those extreme regions of Asia, to the discoveries made
in excursions by land. In ail those provinces an opinion
prevails, that there are countries of great extent and
fertility, which lie at no considerable distance from
* Muller Voyages et Decouvertes par les Russes, ton*, i. p.
4, 5, 141.
t See Note XLI,
255 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
their own coasts. These the Russians imagined to btf
part of America ; and several circumstances concurred
not only in confirming them in their belief* but in per
suading them that some portion of that continent could
not be very remote. Trees of various kinds, unknown
in those naked regions of Asia, are driven upon the
coast by an easterly wind. By the same wind, float
ing ice is brought thither in a few days 5 flights of birds
arrive annually from the same quarter ; and a tradition
obtains among the inhabitants, of an intercourse for
merly carried on with some countries situated to the east.
After weighing all these particulars, and comparing
tihe position of the countries in Asia which had been dis
covered, with such parts in the north-west of America
as were already known, the Russian court formed a plan*
which would have hardly occurred to a nation less ae*
eustomed to engage in arduous undertakings, and to con
tend with great difficulties. Orders were issued to build
two vessels at the small village of Ochotz, situated on
the sea of Kamchatka, to sail on a voyage of discovery.
Though that dreary uncultivated region furnished noth
ing that could be of use in constructing them, but some
larch trees $ though not only the iron, the cordage, the
sails, and all the numerous articles requisite for their
equipment, but the provisions for victualling them were
to be carried through the immense deserts of Siberia,
down rivers of difficult navigation, and along roads al
most impassable, the mandate of the sovereign, and the
perseverance of the people, at last surmounted every
obstacle. Two vessels were finished, and, under the
command of the captains Behring and Tschirikow, sail
ed from Kamchatka, ;a quest of the New World, in a
quarter where it had never been approached.-* They
shaped their course towards the east ; and though a
storm soon separated the vessels,, which never rejoined,
and many disasters befel them, the expectations from
* June 4, A. D. 1741.
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
tlie voyage were not altogether frustrated. Each of the
commanders discovered land, which to them appeared to
be part of the American continent 5 and according to
their observations, it seems to he situated within a few
degrees of the north-west coast of California. Each set
some of his people ashore | but in one place the inhabit
ants fled as the Russians approached | in another, they
carried off those who landed, and destroyed their boats*
The violence of the weather, and the distress of their
crews, obliged both captains to quit this inhospitable
coast. In their return they touched at several islands,
which stretched in a chain from east to west between
the country which they had discovered and the coast of
Asia. They had sonic intercourse with the natives, who
seemed to them to resemble the North Americans. They
presented to the Russians the calumet, or pipe of peace*
which is a symbol of friendship universal among the
people of North America, and an usage of arbitrary in
stitution, peculiar to them.
Though the islands of this New Archipelago have
been frequented since that time by the Russian hunters,
the court of St. Petersburg!!, during a period of more
than forty years, seems td have relinquished every
thought of prosecuting discoveries in that quarter. But
in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight,
it was unexpectedly resumed. The Sovereign* who had
been lately seated on the throne of Peter the Great*
possessed the genius and talents of her illustrious pre
decessor. During the operations of the most arduous
and extensive Avar in which the Russian empire was ever
engaged, she formed schemes and executed undertak
ings, to which more limited abilities would have been
incapable of attending but amidst the leisure of pacific
times. A new Voyage of discovery from the eastern
extremity of Asia was planned, and captain Krenitzin
and lieutenant Levasheff were appointed to command the
two vessels fitted out for that purpose. In their voyage
outward they lield nearly the same course with the for-
vox, i, 33
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
mer navigators, they touched at the same islands, ob
served their situation and productions more carefully,
and discovered several new islands, with which Behring
and Tschirikow had not fallen in. Though they did not
proceed so far to the east as to revisit the country which
Behring and Tschirikow supposed to he part of the
American continent, yet, by returning in a course con
siderably to the north of theirs, they corrected some
capital mistakes into which their predecessors had fallen,
and have contributed to facilitate the progress of future
navigators in those seas.^
Thus the possibility of a communication between the
continents in this quarter rests no longer upon mere con
jecture, but is established by undoubted evidence.! Some
tribe, or some families of wandering Tartars, from the
restless spirit peculiar to their race, might migrate to
the nearest islands, and, rude as their knowledge of na
vigation was, might, by passing from one to the other,
reach at length the coast of America, and give a begin
ning to population in that continent. The distance be
tween the Marian or Ladrone islands and the nearest
land in Asia, is greater than that between the part of
America which the Russians discovered and the coast
of Kamchatka ; and yet the inhabitants of those islands
are manifestly of Asiatic extract. If, notwithstanding
their remote situation, we admit that the Marian islands
were peopled from our continent, distance alone is no
reason why we should hesitate about admitting that the
Americans may derive their original from the same
source. It is probable that future navigators in those
seas, by steering farther to the north, may find that the
continent of America approaches still nearer to Asia.
According to the information of the barbarous people
\vho inhabit the country about the north-east promonto
ry of Asia, there lies, off the coast, a small island, to
* See Note XLII.
t Muller's Voyages, torn. i. 248, etc. 267, 276.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 259
which they sail in less than a day. From that, they can
descry a large continent, which, according to their de
scription, is covered with forests, and possessed hy peo
ple whose language they do not understand.* By them
they are supplied with the skins of martens, an animal
unknown in the northern parts of Siberia, and which is
never found but in countries abounding with trees. If
we could rely on this account, we might conclude, that
the American continent is separated from ours only by
a narrow strait, and all the difficulties with respect to
the communication between them would vanish. What
could be offered only as a conjecture when this History
was first published is now known to be certain. The near
approach of the two continents to each other has been
discovered and traced in a voyage, undertaken upon princi
ples so pure and so liberal, and conducted with so much
professional skill, as reflect lustre upon the reign of the
Sovereign by whom it was planned, and do honour to
the officers entrusted with the execution of it.f
XXV. It is likewise evident from recent discoveries,
that an intercourse between our continent and America
might be carried on with no less facility from the north
west extremities of Europe. As early as the ninth cen
tury, the Norwegians discovered Greenland,^ and plant
ed colonies there. The communication with that coun
try, after a long interruption, was renewed in the last
century. Some Lutheran and Moravian missionaries,
prompted by zeal for propagating the Christian faith,
have ventured to settle in this frozen and uncultivated
region.^ To them we are indebted for much curious in
formation with respect to its nature and inhabitants. We
learn, that the north-west coast of Greenland is se
parated from America by a very narrow strait ; that, at
the bottom of the bay into which this strait conducts, it
* Muller's voyages et Decouv. i. 166.
f See Note XLIII. $ A. D. 830.
Crantz' Hist, of Greenl. i. 242, 244, Prevot Hist. Gen. des
Voyages, torn. xv. 152, not. (96.)
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
is highly probable that they are united 5* that the inha
bitants of the two countries have some intercourse with
one another ; that the Esquimaux of America perfectly
resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect, dress, and
mode of living; that some sailors, who had acquired
the knowledge of a few words in the Greenland! sh lan
guage, reported that these were understood by the Es
quimaux ,f that, at length, a Moravian missionary, well
acquainted with the language of Greenland, having vis
ited the country of Esquimaux, found, to his aston
ishment, that they spoke the same language with the
Greenlanders, that they were in every respect the same
people, and he was accordingly received and entertained
by them as a friend and a brother.:):
By these decisive facts, not on]y the consanguinity of
the Esquimaux and Greenlanders is established, but the
possibility of peopling America from the north of Eu
rope is demonstrated, If the Norwegians, in a barbar
ous age, when science had not begun to dawn in the
nopth of Europe, possessed such naval skill as to open a
communication with Greenland, their ancestors, as much
addicted to roving by sea, as the Tartars are to wander
ing by land, might at some Jijore remote period accom
plish the same voyage, and settle a colony there, whose
descendants might, in progress of time, migrate into
America. But if, instead of venturing to sail directly
from their own coast to Greenland, we suppose that the
Norwegians held a more cautions course, and advanced
from Shetland to the Feroe Islands, and from them
to Iceland, in all which they had planted colonies, their
progress may have been so gradual, that this navigation
cannot be considered as either longer or more hazardous
than those voyages which that hardy and enterprising
race of men is known to have performed in every age.
XXYI. 8. Though it be possible that America may
have received its first inhabitants from our continent,
* Eggede, p, 2. 3. f A. D. 1T64.
\ Crantz' Hist of Greenl. p. 261, 262,
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 261
either by the north-west of Europe or the north-east of
Asia, there seems to he good reasons for supposing that
the progenitors of all the American nations, from Cape
Horn to the southern confines of Labrador, migrated from
the latter rather than the former. The Esquimaux are
the only people in America who, in their aspect or char
acter, bear any resemblance to the northern Europeans.
They are manifestly a race of men, distinct from all
the nations of the American continent, in language, in
disposition, and in habits of life. Their original, then*
may warrantably be traced up to that source which I
have pointed out. But, among all the other inhabitants
of America, there is such a striking similitude in the
form of their bodies, and the qualities of their minds,
that, notwithstanding the diversities occasioned by the
influence of climate, or unequal progress in improve-
i ent, we must pronounce them to be descended from
pne source. There may be a variety in the shades, but
we can every where trace the same original colour.
Each tribe has something peculiar which distinguishes
it, but in all of them we discern certain features com
mon to the whole race. It is remarkable, that in every
peculiarity, whether in their persons or dispositions,
which characterise the Americans, they have some re
semblance to the rude tribes scattered over the north
east of Asia, but almost none to the nations settled in
the northern extremities of Europe. We may, there
fore, refer them to the former origin, and conclude
that their Asiatic progenitors, having settled in those
parts of America, where the Russians have discovered
the proximity of the two continents, spread gradully
over its various regions. This account of the progress
of population in America, coincides with the traditions
of the Mexicans concerning their own origin, which, im
perfect as they are, were preserved with more accuracy,
and merit greater credit, than those of any people in
the New World. According to them, their ancestors
came from a remote country, situated to the north -west
262 HISTORY O* AMEUICl.
of Mexico. The Mexicans point out their various stations
as they advanced from this, into the interiour provinces,
and it is precisely the same route which they must have
held, if they had heen emigrants from Asia. The Mexi
cans, in deseribisig the appearance of their progenitors,,
their manners and habits of life, at that period, exactly
delineate those of the rude Tartars, from v/hoin I sup
pose them to have sprung.*
Thus have I finished a disquisition which has been
deemed of so much importance, that it would have
been improper to omit it in writing the history of Amer
ica. I have ventured to inquire, hut without presuming
to decide. Satisfied with offering conjectures, I pretend
not to establish any system. When an investigation is,
from its nature, so intricate and obscure, that it is im
possible to arrive at conclusions which are certain, there
may be some merit in pointing out such as are probable. f
XXVII. The condition and character of the Ameri
can nations, at the time when they became known to
the Europeans, deserve more attentive consideration
than the inquiry concerning their original. The latter
is merely an object of curiosity ; the former is one of
the most important as well as instructive researches
which can occupy the philosopher or historian. In order
to complete the history of the human mind, and attain
to a perfect knowledge of its nature and operations, we
must contemplate man in all those various situations
wherein he has been placed. We must follow him in his
progress through the different stages of society, as he
gradually advances from the infant state of civil life to
wards its maturity and decline. We must observe, at
each period, how the faculties of his understanding un
fold, we must attend to the efforts of his active powers,
* Acosta Hist. Nat. et. Mor. lib. vii. c. 2, etc. Garcia Origen
de los Indies, lib. v. c. 3. Torquemada Monar. Ind. lib. i. c. 2,
etc. Boturini Benaduci Idea de tma Hist, de la Amer. Septentr,
xvii. p. 127.
t Memoires sur la Louisiana, par Dumont, torn, i p. 1 19.
HISTORY OF AMERICA,
the various movements of desire and affection, as
they rise in his breast, and mark whither they tend, anl
\vith what ardour they are exerted. The philosophers
and historians of ancient Greece and Rome, our guides
in this as well as every other disquisition, had only a
limited view of this subject, as they had hardly any op
portunity of surveying man in his rudest and most early
state. In all those regions of the earth with which
they were well acquainted, civil society had made con
siderable advances, and nations had finished a good
part of their career before they began to observe
them. The Scythians and Germans, the rudest people of
whom any ancient author has transmitted to us an au
thentic account, possessed flocks and herbs, had acquir
ed property of various kinds, and, when compared with
mankind in their primitive state, may be reckoned to
have attained a great degree of civilization.
XXVIII. But the discovery of the New World en
larged the sphere of contemplation, and presented na
tions to our view, in stages of their progress, much less
advanced than those wherein they have been observed in
our continent. In America, man appears under the rud
est form in which we can conceive him to subsist. We
behold communities just beginning to unite, and may ex
amine the sentiments and actions of human beings in
the infancy of social life, while they feel but imperfect
ly the force of its ties, and have scarcely relinquished
their native liberty. That state of primaeval simplicity,
which was known in our continent only by the fanciful
description of poets, really existed in the other. The
greater part of its inhabitants were strangers to indus
try and labour, ignorant of arts, imperfectly acquaint
ed with the nature of property, and enjoying, almost
without restriction or eoutroul, the blessings which flow
ed spontaneously from the bounty of nature. There
were only two nations in this vast continent which had
emerged from this rude state, and had made any con
siderable progress in acquiring the ideas, and adopting
HISTORY 0* AMERICA, 7
the institutions, which belong to polished societies
Their government and manners will fall naturally under
our review in relating the discovery and conquest of the
Mexican and Peruvian empires ; and we shall have there
an opportunity of contemplating the Americans in the
state of highest improvement to which they ever attain
ed.
XXIX. At present, our attention and researches
shall be turned to the small independent tribes which
occupied every other part of America. Among these,
though with some diversity in their character, their
manners, and institutions, the state of society was near
ly similar, and so extremely rude, that the denomina
tion of Savage may be applied to them all. In a gene
ral history of America, it would be highly improper to
describe the condition of each petty community, or to
investigate every minute circumstance which contributes
to form the character of its members. Such an inquiry
would lead to details of immeasurable and tiresome ex
tent. The qualities belonging to the people of all the
different tribes have such a near resemblance, that they
may be painted with the same features. Where any cir
cumstances seem to constitute a diversity in their char*
acter and manners worthy of attention, it will be suf
ficient to point these out as they occur, and to inquire
into the cause of such peculiarities.
XXX. It is extremely difficult to procure satisfying
and authentic information concerning nations while they
remain uncivilized* To discover their true character
under this rude form, and to select the features by which
they are distiaguished, requires an observer possessed
of no less impartiality than discernment. For, in every
stage of society, the faculties, the sentiments and desires
of men are so accommodated to their own state, that
they become standards of excellence to themselves, they
affix the idea of perfection and happiness to those at
tainments which resemble their own, and wherever the
objects and enjoyments to which they have been accus-
HISTORY OF AMERICA),
tomed are wanting, confidently pronounce a people to be
barbarous and miserable. Hence the mutual contempt
with which the members of communities, unequal in
their degrees of improvement, regard each other. Pol
ished nations, conscious of the advantages which they
derive from their knowledge and arts, are apt to view
rude nations with peculiar seorn ? and, in the pride of
superiority, will hardly allow either their occupations^
their feelings, or tLeir pleasures? to be worthy of men.
It has seldom been the lot of communities, in their ear
ly and unpolished state, to fall under the observation of
persons endowed with force of mind superiour to vulgar
prejudices, and capable of contemplating man, under
whatever aspect lie appears, with a candid and discern
ing' eye.
$XXXI The Spaniards* who first visited America*
and who had opportunity of beholding its various tribes
while entire and unsubdued, and before any change had
been made in their ideas or manners by intercourse with
a race of men much advanced beyond them in improve
ment, were far from possessing the qualities requi
site for observing the striking spectacle presented to
their view. Neither the age in which they lived, nor
the nation to which they belonged, had made such pro
gress in true science, as inspires enlarged and liberal
sentiments; The conquerors of the New World were
mostly illiterate adventurers^ destitute of all the ideas
which should have directed them in contemplating ob
jects so extremely diflerent from those with which they
were acquainted. Surrounded continually with danger,
OP struggling with hardships, they had little leisure, and
less capacity, for any speculative inquiry. Eager to
take possession cf a country of such extent and opulence,
and happy in finding it occupied by inhabitants so inca
pable to defend it, they hastily pronounced them to be a
wretched order of men, formed merely for servitude.!
and were more employed in computing the profits of
their labour, than in inquiring i&to the operations of
voi,. i. 3*
HISTORY or AMERICA!
their minds, or the reasons of their customs and insii-
tutions. The persons who penetrated at subsequent pe-
riods into the interiour provinces, to which the know
ledge and devastations of the first conquerors did not
reach, were generally of a similar character \ brave and
enterprising in a high degree* hut so uninformed as to he
little qualified either for observing or describing what
they beheld*
XXXII. Not only the incapacity, but the prejudices
of the Spaniards, render their accounts of the people of
America extremely defective. Soon after they planted
colonies in their new conquests, a difference in opinion
arose with respect to the treatment of the natives. One
party, solicitous to render their servitude perpetual, re
presented them as a brutish, obstinate race, incapable
either of acquiring religious knowledge, or of being
trained to the functions of social life. The other, full
of pious concern for their conversion, contended that,
though rude and ignorant, they were gentle, affection
ate, docile, and by proper instructions and regulations,
might be formed gradually into good Christians and use
ful citizens. This controversy * as I have already relat
ed, was carried on with all the warmth which is natural,
when attention to interest on the one hand, and religious
zeal on the other, animate the disputant?. Most of the
laity espoused the former opinion j nil the ecclesiastics
were advocates for the latter ; and we shall uniformly
find that* accordingly as an author belonged to either of
these parties, he is apt to magnify the virtues or aggra
vate the defects of the Americans far beyond truth.
Those repugnant accounts increase the difficulty of at
taining a perfect knowledge of their character, and ren
der it necessary to peruse all the descriptions of them
by Spanish writers with distrust, and to receive their
information with some grains of allowance.
XXXIII. Almost two centuries elapsed after the
discovery of America, before the manners of its inha
bitants attracted, in, any considerable degree, the atten- >
*
HISTORY OF AMERICA,
don of philosophers. At length, they discovered that
the contemplation of the condition and character of the
Americans in their original state, tended to complete
our knowledge of the human species, might enable ug
to fill up a considerable chasm in tke history of its pro
gress, and lead to spec illations no less curious than im
portant. They entered upon this new field of study with
great ardour ; but, instead of throwing light upon tk$
subject, they have contributed, in some degree, to in*
volve it in additional obscurity. Too impatient to in
quire, they hastened to decide ; and began to erect sys
tems, when they should have been searching for facts on
which to establish their foundations, Struck with the
appearance of degeneracy in the human species through
out the New World, and astonished at beholding a vast
continent occupied by a naked, feeble, and ignorant race
of 'men, some authors of great name have maintained,
that this part of the globe had but lately emerged from
the sea, and become lit for the residence of man ; that
every thing in it bore marks of a recent original j and
that its inhabitants, lately called into existence, and still
at the beginning of their career, were unworthy to be
compared with the people of a more ancient and improv
ed continent. 3 ^ Others have imagined, that, under the
influence of an unkindly climate, which checks and ener
vates the principle of life, man never attained in Ameri
ca, the perfection which belongs to his nature, but re*
mained an animal of an inferiour order, defective in the
vigour of his bodily frame, and destitute of sensibility,
as well as of force, in the operations of his mind.f In op
position to both these, other philosophers have supposed
that man arrives at his highest dignity and excellence
long before he reaches a state of refinement ; and, in the
rude simplicity of savage life, displays an elevation of
sentiment, an independence of mind, and a warmth of
* M. de Buffon Hist. Nat. iii. 484, etc. ix. 103, 114,
t M, de P. Recherches Philos. sur les Americ. passing
HISTOBY 0* AMERICA.
attachment, for which it is vain to search among -the
members of polished societies.* They seem to consider
that as the most perfect state of man which is the least
civilized. They describe the manners of the rude Ameri
cans with such rapture^ as if they proposed them for
models to the rest of the species. These contradictory
theories have been proposed with equal confidence, and
uncommon powers of genius and eloquence have been
exerted, in order to clothe them with an appearance of
truth.
As all those circumstances concur in rendering an in
quiry into the state of the rude nations in America in
tricate and obscure, it is necessary to carry it on with
caution. When guided in our researches by the intelli
gent 'observations of the few philosophers who have vis
ited this part of the globe we may venture to decide.
When obliged to have recourse to the superficial re-
marks of vulgar travellers, of sailors, traders, bucan-
iers, and missionaries, we must often pause, and com
paring detached facts, endeavour to discover what they
wanted sagacity to observe. Without indulging conjec
ture, or betraying a propensity to either system, we
must study with equal care to avoid the extremes of ex
travagant admiration, or of supercilious contempt for
those manners which we describe.
XXXIV. In order to conduct this inquiry with great
er accuracy, it should be rendered as simple as possible.
Man existed as an individual before he became the mem
ber of a community; and the qualities which belong to
him under his former capacity should be known, before
"we proceed to examine those which arise from the lat
ter relation. This is peculiarly necessary in investigat
ing the manners of rude nations. Their political union
is so incomplete, their civil institutions and regulations
so few, so simple, and of such slender authority, that
men in this state ought to be viewed rather as Jnde-
* M. Rousseau.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 269
pendent agents, than as members of a regular society*
The character of a savage results almost entirely from
his sentiments or feelings as an individual, .and is but lit
tle influenced by his imperfect subjection to government
and order, I shall conduct my researches concerning tho
manners of the Americans in this natural order, proceed^
ing gradually from what is simple to \vhat is more com
plicated.
I shall consider, 1, The bodily consitution of the
Americans in those regions now under review. 2. The
qualities of their minds, 3. Their domestic state. 4?
Their political state and institutions. 5. Their system
of war, and public security. 6, The arts with which
they were acquainted, 7. Their religious ideas and in
stitutions, 8, Such singular detached customs as are not
reducible to any of the former heads, 9. I shall con
clude with a general review and estimate of their virtues
and defects.
XXXV, 1. The bodily constitution of the Ameri
cans. The human body is less affected by climate than
that of any other animal. Some animals are confin
ed to a particular region of the globe, and cannot exist be
yond it ; others, though they may be brought to bear the
injuries of a climate foreign to them, cease to multiply
when carried out of that district which Nature destined
to be their mansion. Even such as seem capable of be
ing naturalized in various climates, feel the effect of eve
ry remove from their proper station, and gradually dwin
dle and degenerate from the vigour and perfection pecu
liar to their species. Man is the only living creature
whose frame is at once so hardy and so flexible, that
he can spread over the whole earth, become the inhabit
ant of every region, and thrive and multiply under eve
ry climate. Subject, however, to the general law of
Nature, the human body is not entirely exempt from
the operation of climate ; and when exposed to the ex
tremes either of heat or cold, its size or vigour dimin-
270 HISTORY OF AMERICA,
XXXVI. The first appearance of the inhabitants of
the New World, filled the discoverers with such aston
ishment, that they were apt to imagine them a race of
men different from those of the other hemisphere. Their
complexion is of a reddish brown* nearly resembling the
colour of copper.* The hair of their heads is always
black, long, coarse, and uncurled, They have no beard,
and every part of their body is perfectly smooth. Their
persons are of a full size, extremely straight, and well
proportioned.! Their features are regular, though of
ten distorted by absurd endeavours to improve the beau
ty of their natural form, or to render their aspect more
dreadful to their enemies. In the islands, where four--
footed animals were both few and small, and the earth
yielded her productions almost spontaneously, the con
ititution of the natives, neither braced by the active ex
ercises of the chase, nor invigorated by the labour of
cultivation, was extremly feeble and languid. On the
continent, where the forests abound with game of va
rious kinds, and the chief occupation of many tribes
was to pursue it, the human frame acquired greater
firmness. Still, however, the Americans were more re
markable for agility than strength. They resembled
beasts of prey, rather than animals formed for labour.!
They were not only averse to toil, but incapable of it ;
and when roused by force from their native indolence,
and compelled to work, they sunk under tasks which
the people of the other continent would have performed
with ease. This feebleness of constitution was univer
sal among the inhabitants of those regions in America
which we are surveying, and may be considered as char
acteristic of the species there.fl
* Oviedo Somario, p. 46, D. Life of Columbus, c. 24.
f See Note XLIV.
j See Note XLV.
Oviedo Som. p. 51, C. Voy. de Correal, ii. 138. Wafer's
Description, p. 131.
1 B. Las Casas Brev. Relac. p. 4. Torquem. Monnar. 1. 580.
Oviedo Sommario, p. 41. Histor. lib. iil c 6. Herrera ; dec. L
lib. ix. c. 5. Simon, p. 41.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 271
The beardless countenance and smooth skin of the
American seems to indicate a defect of vigour, occasion
ed by some vice in his frame. He is destitute of one
sign of manhood and of strength, This peculiarity, by
which the inhabitants of the New World are distinguish
ed from the people of all other nations, cannot be at
tributed, as some travellers have supposed, to their mode
of subsistence.^ For though the food of many Ameri
cans be extremely insipid, as they are altogether unac
quainted with the use of salt, rude tribes in other parts
of the earth have subsisted on aliments equally simple?
without this mark of degradation, or any apparent symp
tom of a diminution in their vigour.
XXXVII. As the external form of the American?
leads us to suspect that there is some natural debility in
their frame, the smallness of their appetite for food has
been mentioned by many authors as a confirmation of
this suspicion. The quantity of food which men con
sume varies according to the temperature of the cliniat*
in which they live, the degree of activity which they ex
ert, and the natural vigour of their constitutions, Un<
der the enervating heat of the torrid zone, and when
men pass their days in indolence and ease, they require
less nourishment than the active inhabitants of temper
ate or cold countries. But neither the warmth of their
climate, nor their extreme laziness, will account for the
uncommon defect of appetite among the Americans. The
Spaniards were astonished with observing this, not only
in the islands, but in several parts of the continent. The
constitutional temperance of the natives far exceeded? iu
their opinion, the abstinence of the most mortified her
mits ;f while, on the other hand, the appetite of the
Spaniards appeared to the Americans insatiably vora
cious ; and they affirmed, that one Spaniard devoured
more food in a day than was sufficient for ten Americans.:*:
* Charley. Hist, de Nouv. Fr. iii. 310.
t Ramusio. iii. 304, F. 306, A. Simon Conquista, etc, p. 39.
Hakluyt,iii; 468, 508.
J Hen-era, dec. 1. lib. ii. c, 16.
HISTORY 03? AMERICA^
XXXVIII. A proof of some feebleness ia tlieir
frame, still more striking, is the insensibility of the
Americans to the charms of beauty, and the power of
love. That passion which was destined to perpetuate
life, to be the bond of social union, and the source of
tenderness and joy, is the most ardent in the human
breast. Though the perils and hardships of the savage
state, though excessive fatigue, on some occasions, and
the difficulty at all times of procuring subsistence, may
seem to be adverse to this passion, and to have a ten
dency to abate its vigour, yet the rudest nations in every
other part of the globe seem to feel its influence more
powerfully than the inhabitants of the New World. The
negro glows with all the warmth of desire natural to his
climate ; and the most uncultivated Asiatics discover that
sensibility, which, from tlieir situation on the globe,
we should expect them to have felt. But the Americans
are, in an amazing degree, strangers to the force of this
first instinct of nature. In every part of the New World
the natives treat their women with coldness and indif
ference. They are neither the objects of that tender at
tachment which takes place in civilized society, nor of
that ardent desire, conspicuous among rude nations.
Even in climates where this passion usually acquires its
greatest vigour the savage of America views his female
with disdain as an animal of a less noble species. He
is at no pains to win her favour by the assiduity of
courtship, and still less solicitous to preserve it by in
dulgence and gentleness.* Missionaries themselves, not
withstanding the austerity of monastic ideas, cannot re
frain from expressing tlieir astonishment at the dispas
sionate coldness of the American young men in their in
tercourse with the other sex.f Nor is this reserve to be
* Hennepin Mceurs des Sauvages, 32, etc. Rochefort H : ct
ties isles Antilles, p. 461. Voyage de Coreal, ii. 141. Ramusio?
iii. 309. F. Lozano Descr. del Gran. Chaeo, 71. Faikner's Descr.
of Patagon. p. 125. Lettere di P. Cataneo ap Muratori II Chris
tian. Felice, i. 505.
t Chanvalon. p. 61. Lettr. Edif. torn. xxiv. 318. Terore, ii,
377. Venegas, i, 81. Ribas Hist, de les Triumf. p. 11.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 273
ascribed to any opinion which they entertain with re
spect to the merit of female chastity. That is an idea
too refined for a savage, and suggested hy a delicacy of
sentiment and affection to which he is a stranger.
XXXIX, But in inquiries concerning either the bo
dily or mental qualities of particular races of men,
there is not a more common or more seducing errour,
than that of ascribing to a single cause, those charac
teristic peculiarities, which are the effect of the combin
ed operation of many causes. The climate and soil of
America differ, in so many respects, from those of the
other hemisphere, and this difference is so obvious and
striking, that philosophers of great eminence have laid
hold on this as sufficient to account for what is peculiar
in the constitution of its inhabitants. They rest on phy
sical causes alone, and consider the feeble frame and
languid desire of the Americans, as consequences of the
temperament of that portion of the globe which they oc
cupy. But the influence of political and moral causes
ought not to have been overlooked. These operate with
no less effect than that on which many philosophers rest
as a full explanation of the singular appearances which
have been mentioned. Wherever the state of society is
such as to create many wants and desires, which cannot
he satisfied without regular exertions of industry, the
body accustomed to labour becomes robust and patient
of fatigue. In a more simple state where the demands
of men are so few and so moderate, that they may be
gratified, almost without any effort, by the spontaneous
productions of nature, the powers of the body are not
called forth nor can they attain their proper strength.
The natives of Chili and of North-America, the two
temperate regions in the New World, who live by hunt
ing, may be deemed an active and vigorous race when
compared with the inhabitants of the isles, or of those
parts of the continent where hardly any labour is requi
site to procure subsistence. The exertions of a hunter
are not, however, so regular, or so continued, as those
VOL. I* 35
274 HISTORY OF AMERICA*
of perso-ns employed in the culture of the earth, or in
the various arts of eivilized life, and though' his agility
may be greater than theirs, his strength is on the whole
inferiour. If another direction were given to the active
powers of man in the New World, and his force aug
mented by exercise, he might acquire a degree of vigour
which he does not in his present state possess. The truth
of this is confirmed by experience. Wherever the Amer
icans have been gradually accustomed to hard labour,
their constitutions become robust, and they have been
found capable of performing such tasks, as seemed not
only to exceed the powers of such a feeble frame as has
been deemed peculiar to their country, but to equal any
effort of the natives either of Africa or of Europe.*
The same reasoning will apply to what has been ob
served concerning their slender demand for food. As a
proof that this should be ascribed as much to their ex
treme indolence, and often total want of occupation, as
to any thing peculiar in the physical structure of their
bodies, it has been observed, that in those districts,
where the people of America are obliged to exert any
unusual effort of activity, in order to procure subsistence,
or wherever they are employed in severe labour, their
appetite is not inferiour to that of other men, and, in
some places, it has struck observers as remarkably vo-
racious.f
The operation of political and moral causes is still
more conspicuous, in modifying the degree of attach
ment between the sexes. In a state of high civilization,
this passion, inflamed by restraint, refined by delicacy,
and cherished by fashion, occupies and engrosses the
the heart. It is no longer a simple instinct of nature ;
sentiment heightens the ardour of desire, and the most
tender emotions of which our frame is susceptible,
* See Note XLVL
t Gumilla, ii. 1 2. 70. 247. Lafitau, i. 5 1 5. Ovalle Church, ii
SI. Muratori, i. 295.
HISTORY 05 1 AMERICA. 275
soothe and agitate the soul. This description, however,
applies only to those, who, by their situation, are ex
empted from the cares and labours of lite. Among per
sons of inferiour order, who are doomed by their condi
tion to incessant toil, the dominion of this passion is less
violent ; their solicitude to procure" subsistence, and to
provide for the first demand of nature, leave little lei
sure for attending to its second call. But if the nature
of the intercourse between the sexes varies so much in
persons of different rank in polished societies, the con
dition of man, while he remains uncivilized, must oc
casion a variation still more apparent. We may well
supppose, that amidst the hardships, the dangers, and
the simplicity of savage life, where subsistence is al
ways precarious and often scanty, where men are almost
continually engaged in the pursuit of their enemies, or
in guarding against their attacks, and where neither
dress nor reserve are employed as arts of female allure
ment, that the attention of the Americans to their wo
men would be extremely feeble, without imputing this
solely to any physical defect or degradation in their
frame.
It is accordingly observed, that in those countries of
America, where, from the fertility of the soil, the mild
ness of the climate, or some farther advances which the
natives have made in improvement, the means of sub
sistence are more abundant, and the hardships of savage
life are less severely felt, the animal passion of the sexes
becomes more ardent. Striking examples of this occur
among some tribes seated on the banks of great rivers
well stored with food, among others who are masters of
hunting-grounds abounding so much with game, that
they have a regular and plentiful supply of nourishment
with little labour. The superiour degree of security
and affluence which these tribes enjoy, is followed by
their natural effects. The passions implanted in the
human frame by the hand of nature acquire additional
force 5 new tastes and desires are formed ; the women,
276 HISTORY OP AMERICA,
as they are more valued and admired, become more at
tentive to dress and ornament ; the men, beginning to
feel how much of their own happiness depends upon
them, no longer disdain the arts of winning their favour
and affection. The intercourse of the sexes becomes
very different from that which takes place among their
ruder countrymen ; and as hardly any restraint is im
posed on the gratification of desire, either by religion,
or laws, or decency, the dissolution of their manners is
excessive.^
XL. Notwithstanding the feeble make of the Ameri
cans, hardly any of them are deformed, or mutilated,
OP defective in any of their senses. All travellers have
been struck with this circumstance, and have celebrat
ed the uniform symmetry and perfection of their exter
nal figure. Some authors search for the cause of this
appearance in their physical condition. As the parents are
not exhausted or over fatigued with hard labour, they
suppose that their children are born vigorous and sound.
They imagine, that in the liberty of savage life, the hu
man body, naked and uneonfined from its earliest age,
preserves its natural fo*m ; and that all its limbs and
members acquire a juster proportion, than when fetter
ed with artificial restraints, which stint its growth and
distort its shape.f Something, without doubt, may be
ascribed to the operation of these causes ; but the true
reasons of this apparent advantage, which is common to
all savage nations, lie deeper, and are closely interwoven
with the nature and genius of that state. The infancy
of man is so long and so helpless, that it is extremely
difficult to rear children among rude nations. Their
means of subsistence are not only scanty, but precarious.
Such as live by hunting must range over extensive coun
tries, and shift often from place to place. The care of
children, as well as every other laborious task, is de-
* Biet. 389. Charley, iii. 423. Dumcnt Mem. sur Louisi-
ane,i. 155.
t Piso, p. 6.
HISTORY OF AMERICA. 277
volved upon the women. The distresses and hardships
of the savage life, which are often sueh as can hardly
be supported hy persons in full vigour, must he fatal to
those of more tender age. Afraid of undertaking a
task so laborious, and of sueh long duration, as that of
rearing their offspring, the women, in some parts of
America, procure frequent abortions by the use of cer
tain herbs, and extinguish the first sparks of that life
which they are unable to cherish.* Sensible that only
stout and well formed children have force of constitu
tion to struggle through such a hard infancy, other na
tions abandon or destroy such of their progeny as appear
feeble or defective, as unworthy of attention.! Even
when they endeavour to rear all their children without
distinction, so great a proportion of the whole number
perishes under the rigorous treatment which must be
their lot in the savage state, that few of those who la
boured under any original frailty attain the age of man-
hood4 Thus, in polished societies, where the means of
subsistence are secured with certainty, and acquired
with ease ; where' the talents of the mind are often of
more importance than the powers of the body ; children
are preserved notwithstanding their defects or deformity,
and grow up to be useful citizens. In rude nations, such
persons are either cut off as soon as they are born, or
becoming a burden to themselves and to the community,
cannot long protract their lives. But in those provinces
of the New World where, by the establishment of the
Europeans, more regular provisions has been made for
the subsistence of its inhabitants, and they are restrain
ed from laying violent hands on their children, the
Americans are so far from being eminent for any supe-
riour perfection in their form, that one should rather
* Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 198. Hen-era, dec 7. lib.
ix. c. 4.
t Gumilla Hist. ii. 234. Techo's Hist, of Paraguay, etc.
Churchill's Collect, vi. 108.
| Creuxii Hist. Canad. p. 57.
278 HISTORY OF AMERICA.
suspect some peculiar imbecility in the race, from the
extraordinary number of individuals who are deformed,
dwarfish, mutilated, blind, or deaf.*
XLI. How feeble soever the constitution of the
Americans may be, it is remarkable, that there is less
rariety in the human form throughout the New World*
than in the ancient continent. When Columbus and the
other discoverers first visited the different countries of
America which lie within the torrid zone, they natural
ly expected to find people of the same complexion with
those in the corresponding regions of the other hemis
phere. To their amazement, however, they discovered
that America contained no negroes,-)- and the cause of
this singular appearance became as much the object of
curiosity, as the fact itself was of wonder. In what
part or membrane of the body that humour resides
which tinges the complexion of the negro with a deep
black, it is the business of anatomists to inquire and de
scribe. The powerful operation of heat appears man
ifestly to be the cause which produces this striking va
riety in the human species. All Europe, a great part
of Asia, and the temperate countries of Africa, are in
habited by men of a white complexion. All the torrid
zone in Africa, some of the warmer regions adjacent to
it, and several countries in Asia, are filled with people
of a deep black colour. If we survey the nations of our
continent, making our progress from cold and temperate
countries towards those parts which are exposed te the
influence of vehement and unremitting heat, we shall
find, that the extreme whiteness of their skin soon be
gins to diminish ; that its colour deepens gradually as we
advance $ and after passing through all the successive
gradations of shade, terminates in an uniform unvary
ing black. But in America, where the agency of heat
is cheeked and abated by various causes, which I have
* Voyage de Ulloa, i. 232.
f P. Martyr, dec. p. 71.
HISTORY OF AMEiUCA. 279
already explained, the climate seems to be destitute of
that force which produces such wonderful effects on the
human frame. The colour of the natives of the tor
rid zone in America, is hardly of a deeper hue than
that of the people in the more temperate parts of their
continent. Accurate observers, who had an oportunity
of viewing the Americans in very different climates and
in provinces far removed from each other have been
struck with the amazing similarity of their figure and
aspect.*
But though the hand of nature has deviated so little
from one standard in fashioning the human form in
America, the creation of fancy hath been various and
extravagant. The same fables that were current in the
ancient continent have been revived with respect to the
New World, and America too has been peopled with hu
man beings of monstrous and fantastic appearance. The
inhabitants of certain provinces were described to be
pigmies of three feet high ; those of others to be giants
of an enormous size. Some travellers published ac
counts of people with only one eye, others pretend to
have discovered men without heads, whose eyes and
mouths were planted in their breasts. The variety of
Nature in her productions is, indeed, so great, that it is
presumptuous to set bounds to her fertility, and to re
ject indiscriminately every relation that does not per
fectly accord with our own limited observations and ex
perience. But the other extreme of yielding a hasty as
sent, on the slightest evidence, to whatever has the ap
pearance of being strange and marvellous, is still more
unbecoming the philosophical inquirer, as, in every pe
riod, men are more apt to be betrayed into errour, by
their weakness in believing too much than by their arro
gance in believing too little. In proportion as science
extends, and nature is examined with a discerning eye,
the wonders which amused ages of ignorance disappear.
* See Note XL VII,
330 HISTORY Otf AMERICA*
The tales of credulous travellers concerning America
are forgotten ; the monsters which they describe have
been searched for in vain $ and those provinces where
they pretend to have found inhabitants of singular forms,
are now known to be possessed by people nowise differ
ent from the other Americans.
Though those relations may, without discussion, be
rejected as fabulous, there are other accounts of varie
ties in the human species in some parts of the New
World, which rest upon better evidence, and merit more
attentive examination. This variety has been particu
larly observed in three different districts. The first of
these is situated in the isthmus of Darien, near the cen
tre of America. Lionel Wafer, a traveller possessed of
more curiosity and intelligence than w r e should have ex
pected to find in an associate of bucaniers, discovered
there a race of men, few in number, but of a singular
make. They are of a low stature, according to his de
scription, of a feeble frame, incapable of enduring fa
tigue. Their colour is a dead milk white ; not resemb
ling that of fair people among Europeans, but without
any tincture of a blush or sanguine complexion. Their
skin is covered with a fine hairy down of a chalky white,
the hair of their heads, their eye-brows, and eye-lash
es, are of the same hue. Their eyes are of a singular
form, and so weak, that they can hardly bear the light
of the sun ; but they see clearly by moon light, and arc
most active and gay in the night.* No race similar to
this has been discovered in any other part of America.
Cortes, indeed, found some persons exactly resembling
the white people of Darien, among the rare and mon
strous animals which Montezsima had collected.! But
as the power of the Mexican empire extended to the
provinces bordering on the isthmus of Darien, they
were probably brought thenee. Singular as the appear-
* Wafer's Descript. of Isth. ap. Dampier, Hi. p. 346.
t Cortes ap, Ramus. iii. p. 241. E.
HI9TOEY 0^ AMERICA*
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