The Indians, which were the Inhabitants of America, when the Spaniards
and other Europeans discover'd the several Parts of
That Country,
are the People which we reckon the Natives thereof; as indeed they were,
when we first found out those Parts, and appear'd therein.
Yet this has not wrought in me a full Satisfaction, to allow these People
to have been the Ancient Dwellers of the New-World, or Tract of Land
we call America. The Reasons that I have to think otherwise,
are too many to set down here; but I shall give the Reader a few,
before I proceed; and some others he will find scatter'd
in my Writings elsewhere.
In Carolina (the Part I now treat of) are the fairest Marks of a Deluge,
(that at some time has probably made strange Alterations,
as to the Station that Country was then in) that ever I saw,
or, I think, read of, in any History. {Wood under Ground.}
Amongst the other Subterraneous Matters, that have been discover'd,
we found, in digging of a Well that was twenty six foot deep,
at the Bottom thereof, many large Pieces of the Tulip-Tree,
and several other sorts of Wood, some of which were cut and notch'd,
and some squared, as the Joices of a House are, which appear'd
(in the Judgment of all that saw them) to be wrought with Iron Instruments;
it seeming impossible for any thing made of Stone, or what they were found
to make use of, to cut Wood in that manner. It cannot be argu'd,
that the Wood so cut, might float from some other Continent;
because Hiccory and the Tulip-Tree are spontaneous in America,
and in no other Places, that I could ever learn. {Shells some Fathoms
in the Earth, the Sea probably has thrown up in part of this Country.}
{Mexico Buildings.} It is to be acknowledg'd, that the Spaniards
give us Relations of magnificent Buildings, which were raised
by the Indians of Mexico and other Parts, which they discover'd,
and conquer'd; amongst whom no Iron Instruments were found:
But 'tis a great Misfortune, that no Person in that Expedition was so curious,
as to take an exact Draught of the Fabricks of those People,
which would have been a Discovery of great Value, and very acceptable
to the Ingenious; for, as to the Politeness of Stones, it may be effected
by Collision, and Grinding, which is of a contrary Nature,
on several Accounts, and disproves not my Arguments, in the least.
{Earthen Pots under Ground.}
The next is, the Earthen Pots that are often found under Ground,
and at the Foot of the Banks where the Water has wash'd them away. They are
for the most part broken in pieces; but we find them of a different sort,
in Comparison of those the Indians use at this day, who have had no other,
ever since the English discover'd America. The Bowels of the Earth
cannot have alter'd them, since they are thicker, of another Shape,
and Composition, and nearly approach to the Urns of the Ancient Romans.
{Indian Peaches.}
Again, the Peaches, which are the only tame Fruit, or what is Foreign,
that these People enjoy, which is an Eastern Product, and will keep and retain
its vegetative and growing Faculty, the longest of any thing of that Nature,
that I know of. {The Stone. Water-Melon and Gourds the Indians
have always had.} The Stone, as I elsewhere have remark'd, is thicker
than any other sort of the Peaches in Europe, or of the European sort,
now growing in America, and is observed to grow if planted,
after it has been for several Years laid by; and it seems very probable,
that these People might come from some Eastern Country; for when you ask them
whence their Fore-Fathers came, that first inhabited the Country,
they will point to the Westward and say, `Where the Sun sleeps,
our Forefathers came thence', which, at that distance, may be reckon'd
amongst the Eastern Parts of the World. And to this day,
they are a shifting, wandring People; for I know some Indian Nations,
that have chang'd their Settlements, many hundred Miles;
sometimes no less than a thousand, as is prov'd by the Savanna Indians,
who formerly lived on the Banks of the Messiasippi, and remov'd thence
to the Head of one of the Rivers of South-Carolina; since which,
(for some Dislike) most of them are remov'd to live in the Quarters
of the Iroquois or Sinnagars, which are on the Heads of the Rivers
that disgorge themselves into the Bay of Chesapeak. I once met
with a young Indian Woman, that had been brought from beyond the Mountains,
and was sold a Slave into Virginia. She spoke the same Language,
as the Coranine Indians, that dwell near Cape-Look-out,
allowing for some few Words, which were different, yet no otherwise,
than that they might understand one another very well.
{Indian well shap'd People.}
The Indians of North-Carolina are a well-shap'd clean-made People,
of different Statures, as the Europeans are, yet chiefly inclin'd
to be tall. They are a very streight People, and never bend forwards,
or stoop in the Shoulders, unless much overpower'd by old Age.
Their Limbs are exceeding well-shap'd. As for their Legs and Feet,
they are generally the handsomest in the World. Their Bodies are
a little flat, which is occasion'd, by being laced hard down to a Board,
in their Infancy. This is all the Cradle they have, which I shall
describe at large elsewhere. Their Eyes are black, or of a dark Hazle;
The White is marbled with red Streaks, which is ever common to these People,
unless when sprung from a white Father or Mother. Their Colour is of a tawny,
which would not be so dark, did they not dawb themselves with Bears Oil,
and a Colour like burnt Cork. This is begun in their Infancy,
and continued for a long time, which fills the Pores, and enables them better
to endure the Extremity of the Weather.
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