That the inhabitants of Asia did pass from the one continent to the other, is rendered extremely probable, by the following considerations.
1. At the time when the interior of America was visited by Cortes and the Spanish adventurers, a tradi tion prevailed among the people of Mexico, the mo,t enlightened of the American nations, that their ances tors had migrated from the north, and had ultimately settled in the regions which they occupied at that time. 2. Of the twenty-live species of animals inhabiting the land, which Mr Pennant has enumerated as belonging to Kamschatka, enteen are to he found in America. And, lastly, from the resemblances which we can trace betw'een the uncivilized natives of Asia and those of the American continent, it is as probable as any matter of the same description can be, that a communication has taken plat e between the Old World and the New, by the route which we have mentioned above. Some of these resent Idanceg it may be proper to state. The custom of scalp ing their enemies prevailed among the Scythians, and is continued in America to the present day. A particular ace or the same people were denominated Anthropo phagi, from their practice of eating human flesh ; a practice which was so common among the Indians, as to give a tinge and complexion to their language, in coun tries where it no longer exists. The kamsc•atkans never marched in an aggregated body, but in a line of individual warriors; and the same custom is observed exactly by the American tribes. Tr.e Tungusi, a nation resident in Siberia, prick their faces with a needle in various shapes, and fill up the punctures with charcoal; a practice which still exists in many parts of the New World. The canoes of the Tungusi and those of the Canadians resemble one another; they are light, and made of the bark of trees ; the paddles of the former nation are broad at each end, and those of the people near Cooke's River are of a similar form. Ti. would be endless and impossible to mention all the circumstances of resemblance between the natives of Asia and those of America; but, from the coincidences which have been stated, there is little reason to doubt, that the latter country derived its inhabitants (the EsTlimaux except ed) from the former. And this opinion must be consi dered as probable, whatever the difficulties attending the subject may be.
The difficulties to which we allude relate particularly to the migration of the lower animals from the Old World to the New. For there are animals in the ancient which are not to be found in America; and there are animals in America, which are not to be found in the ancient continent.
With regard to the first of these statements, the solu lion of the difficulty is neither remote nor intricate. It is not contended, that all the species of animals migrated from the Old World to the New. Many kinds may have been left in their original situations ; prevented by cli mate, and by other natural and accidental causes, from hanging the places to which they had become fami liarized. But the difficulty contained in tltt. second part of the statement is not so easily resolved. For it is plain, that no animal could pass from the Old World to the New, unless it had previously existed in the Old World ; but there are animals to be found in America, which exist in no part either of Europe, Africa, or Asia, with which we arc acquainted. The difficulty, therefore, is prominent and conspicuous.
In order to obviate it in some degree, let it be observ ed, first, that many animals belonging to the New World, which have been thought to form a species of them selves, arc the same animals with those of the ancient continent, in an altered and degenerated state. Thus, for example, the lion and the tiger of America, are the same with the lion and the tiger of the eastern hemis phere ; though, from the difference of situations, they are less ravenous and fierce. That animals suffer great
changes by the operation of climate, is evident from this ; that time dogs, which are sent from Europe to North America, alter their colour, without an exception, as the winter approaches, and recover it again during the summer. And, if our enquiries were sufficiently mi nute and accurate, we should probably find that more important revolutions take place in their nature and ha bits. It is worthy of notice likewise, that the same spe cies may be produced in endless varieties by crossing the breed; and that sonic of these varieties may have been regarded, by careless observers, as a new species. Secondly, that some species may have become extinct in the Old World, as there is reason to believe, one spe cies, at least, has become extinct in the New. When we say that there were animals once alive on the continent of America, which do not exist there at present, we allude to the large bones which have been found on the banks of the Ohio, in North America, and which must have belonged to creatures of a size far greater than any which have yet been discovered in the eastern he misphere. The molar tooth, in the possession of the Abbe Chappe, who died not long ago in California, weighed no fewer than eight pounds: and M. Alzate affirms, that at Mexico, there is preserved a bone of the leg, the knob of which is a foot in diameter. The late Mm' Hunter of London, who was well acquainted with comparative anatomy, gave it as his opinion, that the bones to which we allude must have belonged to a carnivorous animal; (Phil. Trans. 1768,) the appearan ces, however, on which this opinion was founded, were not very distinct, and the opinion itself may, perhaps, be considered as doubtful. At any rate they must have belonged to an animal of great size, which does not at present exist on the American continent. The species has become extinct. And if a species of animals has become extinct in America, why may we not suppose that one or more species may have become extinct in Asia, Africa, or Europe ? This supposition is not un supported by facts. Bones of an immense size have been found in different parts of the Russian empire, and in provinces where the elephant or hippopotamus could not exist. These are animals of warm climates. But the organic remains to which we refer, have been disco vered in the Arctic regions of Asia. Near the mouth of the Lena, M. Adams of Petersburgh found a whole mammoth, hones and muscles, in the year 1806. It was imbedded in ice, and surrounded with it, like flies in amber. The animal itself appears to have been about nine feet in height; and, what is almost incredible, its two horns weighed 4001b. Its skeleton is now to be seen at Petcrsburgh. Julius Caesar describes several animals belonging to Gaul, with which naturalists of modern times are wholly unacquainted. (Dr Brll. Gall. b. vi. c. 25.) And though the remark is not sufficiently general in its application, yet it deserves to be attended to, that not a single wolf exists at present in Great Bri tain, where they formerly abounded in such numbers, that it was one of the chief occupations of the British princes, to hunt and destroy them. Their very names were often derived from their skill in that exercise. Thirdly, we are not acquainted with all the animals of the ancient continent, as is justly observed by Clavigero (gist. of Mexico, vol. ii. diss. 1.) The interior of Africa, and a great part of Asia, are yet unexplored : and no one can tell what species may exist in those regions, and how many dillerent kinds there may be. This can be ascertained by examination alone ; and till that exami nation has taken place, we can draw no inference against the common opinion with regard to the peopling of America, from the fact, that there are animals in that continent which we do not yet know to exist, or to have existed, in Europe, Asia, or Africa.