heir wives,
children, and relations; frugal and persevering, charitable and
forbearing."

_Who are they_? Men do not grow up like stones or trees or rocks; they
are not found in herds like wild animals. God, that made man in his own
image, gave to the Indians an origin and parentage, like unto the rest
of the great family of mankind, the work of his own almighty hand. From
whom, then, did our red brethren, the rightful owners of this continent,
descend?

There seems to be no difference of opinion that they are of Asiatic
origin, and not indigenous to our soil. Nearly all writers and
historians concur on this point--they _are_ Asiatic--they crossed to the
continent of America from Asia; but who are they, and from whom have
they descended?

Eldad, who wrote learnedly of the twelve tribes, in 1300, contends, that
the tribe of Dan went into Ethiopia, and pretends that the tribes of
Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, followed. That they had a king of their own,
and could muster 120,000 horse and 100,000 foot. In relation to part of
these three tribes, there might have been some truth in it, for Tigleth
Pelieser did compel them to go into Ethiopia. Issachar, he contends,
remained with the Medes and Persians. Zebulon extended from the
mountains of Pharan to the Euphrates. Reuben dwelt behind Pharan, and
spoke Arabic. Ephraim and half Manasseh were thrown on the southern
coast. Benjamin of Tudela places Dan, Asher, Naphtali, and Zebulon on
the banks of the river Gozan. In the midst of all these contradictory
and vague statements, two opinions prevail among Jews and Christians, in
early and late periods. One is, that the ten tribes went into Tartary,
where they remained; the other, that from Tartary they penetrated into
America.

Manasseh Ten Israel, the most learned of the nation, declares that they
passed into America. Lescarbot believes that the Indians are the
posterity of Ham, expelled by Joshua, and who passed out of the
Mediterranean, and were driven by storms to the American coast. Grotius
contends, that the inhabitants of the new world were originally from
Greenland; and while Basnage frankly admits, that manifest tracts of
Judaism are to be found in America, he contends, that the tribes could
not have overcome the warlike Scythians and penetrated to this
continent, and that they remained in Halak and Heber, and in the cities
of the Medes.

Truth, no doubt, lies between these opinions. Many of the tribes p