Lecture

_DELIVERED BEFORE THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE AT ST. JOHN'S,
NEWFOUNDLAND._

BY

THE HON. JOSEPH NOAD,

_Surveyor-General,_


Of the various theories advanced on the origin of the North American
Indians, none has been so entirely satisfactory as to command a
general assent; and on this point many and different opinions are yet
held. The late De Witt Clinton, Governor of the State of New York, a
man who had given no slight consideration to subjects of this nature,
maintained that they were of Tatar origin; others have thought them
the descendants of the Ten Tribes, or the offspring of the Canaanites
expelled by Joshua. The opinion, however, most commonly entertained
is, that the vast continent of North America was peopled from the
Northeast of Asia; in proof of which it is urged that every
peculiarity, whether in person or disposition, which characterises the
Americans, bears some resemblance to the rude tribes scattered over
the northeast of Asia, but almost none to the nations settled on the
northern extremity of Europe. Robertson, however, gives a new phase to
this question; from his authority we learn that, as early as the ninth
century, the Norwegians discovered Greenland and planted colonies
there. The communication with that country, after a long interruption,
was renewed in the last century, and through Moravian missionaries, it