NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.              79

  It Nothing can be more absurd,"* says our author, " than
to believe for a moment, that the western continent had
been peopled by the lost tribes of Israel, or at least that the
present Indians of America are the lost Israelites. Adair,
as every person knows, has assumed an extraordinary and
singular position on this subject, while he finds, or rather
pretends to find, an affinity between the Jews and the
Aiftan.Indians, in all those respects which can be call-
ed national. This author is said to have lived forty years
among the Aborigines of the country, which may be true
fwr all we know, but it is certainly true, that few or none
have gone before, or come after him, who witnessed what
he witnessed, or viewed the Indians as be viewed them.
In this assertion, all those who are in the least acquainted
with the manners and customs of the red men, will, no
doubt concur with me. Is it not strange, that, after dis-
covering the Mosiac law, or at least the leading statutes of
it, he had not also observed a Synagogue ! If he had at
onee the audacity to tell us that he was in the habit of at-
tending Divine Worship with them on the Sabbath day,
who could dare deny, but Adair made out his point! not-
withstanding this deficiency, our author's book is furnished
with sufficient evidence to show, that he is himself a most
superficial observer, or a huge impostor." cc II ne lui ap-
partenoit que de connaitre la verite, et de la dire; s 'il etoit
fascine' par l'e3prit de paWhi, ii ne devenoit que lforgane des
erreurs." What influenced Adair to lose his equilibrium
in weighing so unfairly his observations and arguments, we
cannot pretend to know. This author, it is true, stands not
alone in thistheory, but the most of his supporters bear
witness to him, on whose system they have generally built
their arguments. If Julius Casar had been a lover of the
Jews, or if he felt, in any way, interested in their affairs he
could equally well have discovered the lost tribes of Israel
amiong the ancient Gauls and Britons in his Bellum Gallicum.
But COsar was a different historian, not only from Adair,


  *Pere Leteque sur I'oriaine des Abbrigenes du nouveau monde,
p. 58.