precedent ordained by MOSES; for circumcision was _discontinued_ by the great Lawgiver for forty years, during his journeying with his followers through the wilderness; the custom was re-established by JOSHUA. May not this innovation by MOSES in the covenanted custom be imitated by these descendants? Are they not still wanderers in the wilderness in the western, as their ancestors were in the eastern hemisphere? The affirmative has existed for ages, and it even now continues. They have not yet returned to Jerusalem! One fact is of great importance in proof of their great antiquity--viz., they have no knowledge or tradition in the North of the Life or Crucifixion of CHRIST, yet they have a knowledge of the Deluge, and actually practise the laws of Moses. Again we must repeat, that we are writing of these Aborigines as they were at the time of European colonization. The above singular fact enables us at once to place them in a chronological position. It must be _after_ Moses but _before_ THE SAVIOR; but another fact brings their circle of time still narrower--viz., they have no tradition of the destruction of the first Temple of Jerusalem. This event occurred 588 years before CHRIST, it must, therefore, be _anterior_ to that national calamity, that they trace their origin. Of this, hereafter, when in the next volume the history of the Israelites will be given; but, even now, justice to this race compels us to offer a few words in their defence as a people, for being already sufficiently shewn that they are of the great Hebrew family, they may fall in the estimation of some readers upon religious principles. It has been shewn that they have no tradition of the Crucifixion, or of the desolation of the Temple. Is there no sentiment in the mind of the Christian reader as the first fact is unfolded, other than that of historical data? Upon a moment's thought it must be apparent that, _the blood of_ CHRIST _cannot be upon them or their children_! Their ancestors never shouted in the streets of Jerusalem, "Crucify him! crucify him!" The Aborigines of the North are _Israelites_, and of the house of Jeroboam, _not Jews_, _i. e._, of the House of Judah; a distinction of all importance, as the pages of the subsequent volume will prove.