yond any former time, let those, whose writings form the opinions and the practices of their contemporaries, endeavour to transfer the reproach of such imprisonment from the debtor to the creditor, till universal infamy shall pursue the wretch whose wantonness of power, or revenge of disappointment, condemns another to torture and to ruin; till he shall be hunted through the world as an enemy to Man, and find riches no shelter from contempt.

Surely, he, whose debtor has perished in prison, although he may acquit himself of deliberate murder, must at least have his mind clouded with discontent, when he considers how much another has suffered from him; when he thinks on the wife bewailing her husband, or the children begging the bread which their father would have earned. If there are any made so obdurate by avarice or cruelty, as to revolve these consequences without dread or pity, I must leave them to be awakened by some other power, for I write only to human beings.

NEW THEORY

OF THE

TWO HEMISPHERES:

WHEREBY IT IS ATTEMPTED TO EXPLAIN, ON

GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL FACTS,

THE

TIME AND MANNER

IN WHICH

AMERICA WAS PEOPLED.

By G. A. THOMPSON, Esq.

TRANSLATOR OF "ALCEDO'S GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES."

ORIGINAL.

1815.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following pages were composed with a view of being inserted in the Preface of my "Dictionary of America and the West Indies;" but upon being submitted to the perusal of some judicious friends, it was feared they might be thought to be misplaced in such a work, as incompatible with the natural gravity of its character, though not unsuitable to one of more fancy or imagination.

Of all the subjects relating to that hemisphere, none appeared to the author's mind to be involved in greater obscurity, though none had been more generally or copiously treated, than that respecting the manner in which America was peopled. He conceived it, therefore, his duty to offer the humble tribute of his sentiments, whatever they might be, upon this interesting question; and as he could not conscientiously, and, as he thought, usefully, coincide with the opinions of those who had already discussed it, he was, as it were, compelled to find out a system of his own. If, then, the style of the following tract should appear somewhat dogmatical, the importance of the subject, it is hoped, will in some measure plead his excuse. It was not written with an expectation of manifesting ingenuity, but with a hope of assisting truth; and if the language should be found occasionally to overflow with the energetic burst of self-conviction, the phlegmatic scholiast must be contented to take it as he finds it, or seek to allay the thirst of enquiry at some more frequented and more tranquil font.

Just published by Mr. Carpenter, Old Bond-street, in 5 vols. quarto.

NEW THEORY, &c.

THE attempt to prove how America was peopled has elicited a great deal of learning, and much ingenuity; but theories, when borne upon the adventitious props of negative facts, generally fall under the weight of the very evidence adduced in their support. The treatises on this interesting subject, unhappily, form no exception to the rule; and if the whole of the arguments that have been used could be weighed against each other, there is little doubt but that conviction would be lost in the shifting balance of conflicting testimony. In proof of this, it will only be necessary to state some of the opinions of the most accredited authors.

From the time of Hornius to the present day, innumerable have been those who have assigned to some of the natives of America an oriental origin; and who have supposed, that they anciently crossed the Atlantic ocean. Mr. Bryan Edwards, whose learning and penetration seem not to have been inferior to those of Dr. Robertson, has also adduced some striking coincidences of custom and of language between the Charibes in the New, and the inhabitants of Africa in the Old World; and thence infers, that the former were indisputably of Eastern origin, though he observes, that "an attempt to trace them back to their progenitors, the first emigrants

from the ancient hemisphere, in order to point out with any degree of precision or probability the era of their migration, were (like the voyages I have been describing) to venture on a vast and unknown ocean, without a compass, and even without one friendly star to guide us through the night of conjecture."

After a confession of this nature, from an author so accredited, I feel myself somewhat scrupulous in advancing a proposition, which would tend to prove both "with precision and certainty,” the manner and time of the first peopling of America. It is, however, my intention presently to advance it; and if it should be found worthy of condemnation, I trust that the conviction I have felt in my own mind of its truth, with my zeal for the cause of real and useful knowledge, will be deemed my apology, whilst the proofs I shall advance will be received in extenuation of my error, But, first, to proceed with a sketch of the doctrines of other commentators on this subject.

Gregorio Garcia, a Dominican, who had been employed in the missions of Mexico and Peru, endeavoured to prove, from the traditions of the Mexicans, Peruvians, and others; and from the variety of characters, customs, languages, and forms of religion, observed in the different countries of the New World, that several nations had contributed to form its original population.

The Father D'Acosta, discrediting the possibility of a seavoyage, from the ignorance of the use of the compass, searches for their origin in the North of Asia and Europe.

The hypothesis of John de Laet, a Flemish writer, would establish that America was certainly peopled by the Scythians or Tartars; and that the transmigration of these people happened soon after the dispersion of Noah's grandsons; that, according to the indisputable tradition of the Mexicans, North America was inhabited long before it could have received any inhabitants from Norway. The same writer, with a view, at the same time, to account for the edifices found on the Western coast of Africa, particularly in the Canaries, is of opinion their inhabitants may have passed over to America. In short, he endeavours to show that America was peopled both from the East and from the West.

Emanuel de Moraez, in his history of Brasil, asserts that Ame