The shadow of the Earth upon the Moon during an eclipse, plainly testified that the planet upon which we live was round. The travels of Marco Paulo by land to the East Indies (about 1269), related that those lands stretched far towards the _east_. About two centuries after this, it occurred to Columbus, upon perusing those travels; but more especially from having obtained intelligence from the final conquest of the Canary islands in 1483; and information while resident in England (which circumstances will be investigated hereafter), that by a voyage towards the _west_--thus travelling, as it were, around the globe--_he should meet the extremities of those lands_; and as the discovery of a sea-passage to the East Indies was the great object of navigation in the fifteenth century, Columbus made the bold attempt (founded upon previous knowledge of migration), and discovered the island of St. Salvador and those adjacent, and thinking that he had reached the eastern extremity of the Indies according to his theory, he then named those isles the _West_ Indies, because they were discovered by _sailing_ west. The discovery of the Continent followed during his third voyage, and believing all the land to be of the Indies, the inhabitants of the isles and of the mainland were, as a natural consequence, called by Columbus under one general appellation, viz., _Indians_. Subsequent geographical discoveries have proved the great error of the Genoese; but the name of _Indian_ was given at that time, and it has been continued although at variance with the truth; _and it has had a material effect in checking inquiry concerning the Aborigines_, who having been called Indians, the name seemed at once to specify their origin: but, it would have been equally as just, if he had determined to sail for Britain, and an unforeseen gale having cast him upon the island of Sardinia, and then from believing that he had reached the intended object of his voyage, he should have called the latter inhabitants _British_. We, therefore, discard the name of _Indian_ as applied to the natives of the Western continent (it will be retained in the Tragedy of "Tecumseh" for local purposes), and write of them as the _Aborigines_, until, as we advance in this History, they can be identified by a national name, founded upon facts and conclusions. CHAPTER II. Hebrew Analogies with the Tribes of the North--Contrasted with the Natives of Mexican America--Circumcision--Scalping--Its great Antiquity--THE CRUCIFIXION not known to the Natives of the North--Their Traditional Knowledge of the Deluge--Their Practice of the Laws of MOSES--The conclusive Proofs of the _two_ Races--The Formation of a new Epochian Table for the History of Ancient America--The announcement of the Historical Theory, and the First Epoch.