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argumentation. They differ somewhat from each other as to theparticular regions in which some of the grandsons of Noah weresettled; but this general*conclusion is established by them all,——that all the nations of which history has given any account haveoriginated from Shem, Ham, or Japhet. Now this conclusion, asto the source from which all the i continents were peopled, beingestablished, (and I think it is fully established even if we take intothe account the Chinese , Japanese , and other eastern nations,)why should we suffer a little difficulty, as to the manner inwhich the islands were peopled, to stagger our faith in Scripture-history ? ?

“ If my memory does not fail me, it is related by Hornhis, inhis book “ De Originibus Americanist that is was proposed bysome superstitious people, as a question which none but a manpossessed by the devil could answer, How was America peopled?yet the question can now be answered without the aid of super-natural assistance. In like manner future discoveries of navigatorsmay enable us to answer the question concerning the peoplingof the islands in the South Sea, though it should be deemed un-answerable at present. r

“ I am far from believing that question to be unanswerable atpresent, and think it probable that Forster, the most philosophicalof our late circumnavigators, has written something on the sub-ject ; but I cannot say with certainty whether he has or not; itmay be worth your while to consult his work.

“ To me there appear to be two ways, by which the presentislands may have been peopled: there may be other ways, buttwo strike me as obvious ones; by navigation, and by inunda-tions of the sea.

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