ca, where the cold is far greater than in the
same latitude in Europe. The inhabitants of those immense countries are
badly clothed, imperfectly defended against the weather, miserably
housed; wandering in war or in the chase, exposed for weeks at a time to
the mercy of the elements, they soon darken into the indelible red or
copper color of their race. On the northwest coasts, about latitude 50 deg.,
in Nootka Sound, and a number of other smaller bays, dwell a people more
numerous and better provided with food and shelter than their eastern
neighbors. They are free from a great part of the toils and hardships of
the hunter, and from the vicissitudes of the season. When cleansed from
their filthy and fantastic painting, it appears that their complexion
and features resemble those of the European.[218]

Modern discoveries have to a great extent dispelled the mystery of the
Indian origin, and proved the fallacy of the numerous and ingenious
theories formerly advanced with so much pertinacity and zeal. Since the
northwest coasts of America and the northeast of Asia have been
explored, little difficulty remains on this subject. The two continents
approach so nearly in that direction that they are almost within sight
of each other, and small boats can safely pass the narrow strait. Ten
degrees further south, the Aleutian and Fox Islands[219] form a
continuous chain between Kamtschatka and the peninsula of Alaska, in
such a manner as to leave the passage across a matter of no difficulty.
The rude and hardy Tschutchi, inhabiting the northeast of Asia,
frequently sail from one continent to the other.[220] From the remotest
antiquity, this ignorant people possessed the wonderful secret of the
existence of a world hidden from the wisest and most adventurous of
civilized nations. They were unconscious of the value of their vast
discovery; they passed over a stormy strait from one frozen shore to
another, as stern and desolate as that they had left behind, and knew
not that they had crossed one of the great boundaries of earth. When
they first entered upon the wilderness of America, probably the most
adventurous pushed down toward the genial regions of the south, and so
through the long ages of the past the stream of population flowed slowly
on, wave by wave, to the remotest limits of the east and south. The
Indians resemble the people of northeastern Asia in form and feature
more than any other of the human race. Their population i