Of the various theories advanced on the origin of the North AmericanIndians, none has been so entirely satisfactory as to command ageneral assent; and on this point many and different opinions are yetheld. The late De Witt Clinton, Governor of the State of New York, aman who had given no slight consideration to subjects of this nature,maintained that they were of Tatar origin; others have thought themthe descendants of the Ten Tribes, or the offspring of the Canaanitesexpelled by Joshua. The opinion, however, most commonly entertainedis, that the vast continent of North America was peopled from theNortheast of Asia; in proof of which it is urged that everypeculiarity, whether in person or disposition, which characterises theAmericans, bears some resemblance to the rude tribes scattered overthe northeast of Asia, but almost none to the nations settled on thenorthern extremity of Europe. Robertson, however, gives a new phase tothis question; from his authority we learn that, as early as the ninthcentury, the Norwegians discovered Greenland and planted coloniesthere. The communication with that country, after a long interruption,was renewed in the last century, and through Moravian missionaries, itis now ascertained that the Esquimaux speak the same language as theGreenlanders, and that they are in every respect the same people. Bythis decisive fact, not only is the consanguinity of the Greenlanderswith the Esquimaux established, but also the possibility of peoplingAmerica from the north of Europe demonstrated, and if of America, thenof course of Newfoundland also, and thus it appears within the vergeof possibility, that the original inhabitants of this Island may bedescendants of Europeans, in fact merely a distinct tribe of theEsquimaux. At a meeting of the Philosophical Society held in Englandsome few years ago, the subject of the Red Indians of Newfoundland wasbrought under discussion by Mr. Jukes, the gentleman who conducted thegeological survey of this Island; and Dr. King, a name well-knownamong scientific men, gave it as his opinion, founded on historicalevidence, going so far back as the period of Sebastian Cabot, thatthey were really an Esquimaux tribe. Others are of opinion, founded onsome real or presumed affinity between the vocabulary of the onepeople with that of the other, that the Indian tribes of North Americaand the original inhabitants of Newfoundland, called by themselves"Boeothicks," and by Europeans "Red Indians," are of the samedescent.
The enquiry, however, into the mere origin of a people is one morecurious in its nature than it is calculated to be useful, and failurein attempting to discover it need excite but little regret; but it ismuch to be lamented that the early history of the Boeothick isshrouded in such obscurity, that any attempt to penetrate it must bevain. All that we know of the tribe as it existed in past ages, isderived from tradition handed down to us chiefly thro' the Micmacs;and even from this source, doubtful and uncertain as such authority