THE HISTORY OF AMERICA. THE BOOK I. 1. The earth pled. HE progress of men in discovering and BOOK peopling the various parts of the earth, has been extremely flow. Several ages elapfed flowly peobefore they removed far from thofe mild and fertile regions in which they were originally placed by their Creator. The occafion of their first general difperfion is known; but we are unac quainted with the course of their migrations, or the time when they took poffeffion of the different countries which they now inhabit. Neither history nor tradition furnifh fuch information concerning those remote events, as enables us to trace, with any certainty, the operations of the human race in the infancy of fociety. tions by WE may conclude, however, that all the Firft migra early migrations of mankind were made by land. VOL. I. B land. BOOK land. I. Firft at wards navi The ocean, which furrounds the habitable earth, as well as the various arms of the fea which feparate one region from another, though deftined to facilitate the communication between distant countries, feem, at firft view, to be formed to check the progrefs of man, and to mark the bounds of that portion of the globe to which nature had confined him. It was long, we may believe, before men attempted to pass these formidable barriers, and became fo fkilful and adventrous as to commit themfelves to the mercy of the winds and waves, or to quit their native fhores in queft of remote and unknown regions. NAVIGATION and fhip-building are arts fo tempts to- nice and complicated, that they require the ingation. genuity, as well as experience, of many fucceffive ages to bring them to any degree of perfection. From the raft or canoe, which firft ferved to carry a favage over the river that obftructed him in the chace, to the conftruction of a veffel capable of conveying a numerous crew with fafety to a distant coast, the progrefs in improvement is immenfe. Many efforts would be made, many experiments would be tried, and much labour as well as invention would be employed, before men could accomplish this arduous and important. undertaking. I. undertaking. The rude and imperfect state in BOOK which navigation is ftill found among all na tions which are not confiderably civilized, correfponds with this account of its progrefs, and demonftrates that, in early times, the art was not fo far improved as to enable men to undertake diftant voyages, or to attempt remote discoveries. tion of As foon, however, as the art of navigation Introduc became known, a new fpecies of correfpondence commerce. among men took place. It is from this æra, that we must date the commencement of fuch an intercourse between nations as deferves the appellation of commerce. Men are, indeed, far advanced in improvement before commerce becomes an object of great importance to them. They must even have made fome confiderable progress towards civilization, before they acquire the idea of property, and afcertain it so perfectly, as to be acquainted with the most fimple of all contracts, that of exchanging by barter one rude commodity for another. But as foon as this important right is established, and every individual feels that he has an exclufive title to poffefs or to alienate whatever he has acquired by his own labour and dexterity, the wants and ingenuity of his nature fuggeft to him a new method of increasing his acquifitions B 2 I. BOOK acquifitions and enjoyments, by difpofing of what is fuperfluous in his own ftores, in order to procure what is neceffary or defirable in those of other men. Thus a commercial intercourse begins, and is carried on among the members of the fame community. By degrees, they discover that neighbouring tribes poffefs what they themselves want, and enjoy comforts of which they wish to partake. In the fame mode, and upon the fame principles, that domeftic traffic is carried on within the fociety, an external commerce is established with other tribes or nations. Their mutual intereft and mutual wants render this intercourfe defirable, and imperceptibly introduce the maxims and laws which facilitate its progress and render it fecure. But no very extenfive commerce can take place between contiguous provinces, whose foil and climate being nearly the fame, yield fimilar productions. Remote countries cannot convey their commodities by land, to thofe places, where on account of their rarity they are defired, and become valuable. It is to navigation that men are indebted for the power of tranfporting the fuperfluous ftock of one part of the earth, to fupply the wants of another. The luxuries and bleffings of a particular climate are no longer confined to itself alone, but the |