is now ascertained that the Esquimaux speak the same language as the
Greenlanders, and that they are in every respect the same people. By
this decisive fact, not only is the consanguinity of the Greenlanders
with the Esquimaux established, but also the possibility of peopling
America from the north of Europe demonstrated, and if of America, then
of course of Newfoundland also, and thus it appears within the verge
of possibility, that the original inhabitants of this Island may be
descendants of Europeans, in fact merely a distinct tribe of the
Esquimaux. At a meeting of the Philosophical Society held in England
some few years ago, the subject of the Red Indians of Newfoundland was
brought under discussion by Mr. Jukes, the gentleman who conducted the
geological survey of this Island; and Dr. King, a name well-known
among scientific men, gave it as his opinion, founded on historical
evidence, going so far back as the period of Sebastian Cabot, that
they were really an Esquimaux tribe. Others are of opinion, founded on
some real or presumed affinity between the vocabulary of the one
people with that of the other, that the Indian tribes of North America
and the original inhabitants of Newfoundland, called by themselves
"Boeothicks," and by Europeans "Red Indians," are of the same
descent.

The enquiry, however, into the mere origin of a people is one more
curious in its nature than it is calculated to be useful, and failure
in attempting to discover it need excite but little regret; but it is
much to be lamented that the early history of the Boeothick is
shrouded in such obscurity, that any attempt to penetrate it must be
vain. All that we know of the tribe as it existed in past ages, is
derived from tradition handed down to us chiefly thro' the Micmacs;
and even from this source, doubtful and uncertain as such authority
confessedly is, the amount of information conveyed to us is both