56
 

HISTORY OF
 

CHAPTER IV.

Showing the great difficulty Philosophers have
had in peopling America—And how the Abo¬
rigines came to be begotten by accident—to the
great relief and satisfaction of the Author.

The next inquiry at which we arrive in the re¬
gular course of our history, is to ascertain, if pos¬
sible, how this country was originally peopled; a
point fruitful of incredible embarrassments; for
unless we prove that the Aborigines, did absolute¬
ly come from some where, it will be immediately
asserted in this age of scepticism, that they did
not come at all; and if they did not come at all,
then was this country never populated—a conclu¬
sion perfectly agreeable to the rules of logic, but
wholly irreconcilable to every feeling of huma¬
nity, inasmuch as it must syllogistically prove
fatal to the innumerable Aborigines of this popu¬
lous region.

To avert so dire a sophism, and to rescue from
logical annihilation so many millions of fellow
creatures, how many wings of geese have been
plundered! what oceans of ink have been benevo¬
lently drained! and how many capacious heads of
learned historians have been addled, and for ever
confounded!    I pause with reverential awe, when