laws, and animated by the strongest and most devoted loyalty to
their tribe. At the same time, while willingly recording their high and
admirable qualities, pity for the devoted race must not blind us to
their ferocious and degrading vices.

It was not until the end of the seventeenth century that the manners and
characteristics of this strange race attracted to any considerable
degree the attention of philosophers and theorists; a chasm in human
history then seemed about to be filled. Eager to throw light upon the
subject, but too impatient to inquire into the facts necessary for the
formation of opinions, the conclusions formed were often unjust to the
native dignity of the Red Indian,[205] and have been proved erroneous by
subsequent and more perfect information. On the other hand, one of the
most gifted but dangerous of modern philosophers would exalt these
untutored children of nature to a higher degree of honor and excellence
than civilization and knowledge can confer. He deemed that the elevation
and independence of mind, resulting from the rude simplicity of savage
life, is sought in vain among the members of refined and organized
societies.[206]

Every thing tended to render inquiry into the state of the rude tribes
of America difficult and obscure. In the generality of cases they
presented characteristics of a native simplicity, elsewhere unknown; and
even in the more favored districts, where a degree of civilization
appeared, it had assumed a form and direction totally different from
that of the Old World.[207]

The origin of this mysterious people has been the subject of an immense
variety of speculations, and has involved the question, whether all men
are the sons of Adam, or whether the distinctions of the human race were
owing to the several sources from whence its members sprung? The skeptic
supposition that each portion of the globe gave its own original type of
man to the human family at once solves the difficulty of American
population; but as both Christianity and philosophy alike forbid
acceptance of this view,[208] it becomes necessary to consider the
relative probabilities in favor of the other different theories which
enthusiasm, ingenuity, and research have contributed to lay before the
world.

Without referring to the most sacred and ancient of authorities, we may
find existing natural evidence abundantly sufficient to establish the
belief of the common descent of our race. There are not i